The company's significant investment in key technologies for the automotive transformation has led to a 5% increase in revenue, reaching €1.169 billion in 2016, compared to €1.112 billion in 2015. The multinational achieved a net profit of €25.31 million, a 2.5-fold increase over the previous year's €9.96 million. Recurring EBITDA reached €102.5 million.
According to Javier Pujol, CEO of Ficosa: “The increase in revenue and results validate the company's strategy of boosting investment in the development of technological products in the fields of connectivity, security, and electric mobility—the areas with the greatest growth potential in the automotive sector, given that they are the fundamental pillars of autonomous driving and electric vehicles. Our forecast is that within five years, sales from new technological products will exceed €400 million annually.”.
The contracts secured by Ficosa in 2016 will generate a total of €1.6 billion over the duration of these projects. These include significant orders related to new technologies, such as the Camera Monitoring System, an innovative solution for automatically cleaning cameras and sensors, for a high-end automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and the Surround View System, an intelligent camera system that provides the driver with a 360° view around the vehicle. The company also secured three new Asian clients with orders related to in-vehicle connectivity.
Geographically, Europe and China are the regions that have experienced the greatest growth in revenue, exceeding 10%.
Significant effort in engineering and R&D
The company's strong commitment to capitalizing on innovations and the latest industry advancements has resulted in a significant effort to expand its technical team, which now exceeds 1,000 engineers globally. In 2016 alone, 217 new engineers were hired for the Viladecavalls Technology Center. R&D expenditures were also substantial, representing approximately 6.5% of revenue.
The company's investments reached 90 million euros. As Josep Maria Serra, Corporate and Financial Director, points out: “Ficosa has a robust investment plan for the next 5 years to respond to the profound technological transformation the automotive industry is undergoing, while maintaining maximum operational competitiveness for all of the company's businesses.”.
Strengthening global presence
In 2016, Ficosa strengthened its global presence with the opening in the United States (Cookeville) of the group's most technologically advanced production center worldwide and a production plant in Brazil (Jandira).
During the past year, the company also began the process of establishing itself in two new markets, Morocco (Rabat) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), plants in which it plans to make an investment of 50 million euros and which will employ 800 and 150 people, respectively.
In Rabat, Ficosa will establish its global center for the manufacture of vision cameras and will also produce electrical wiring harnesses for rearview mirrors for the entire group, a component currently supplied by external providers. In addition, it will manufacture traditional products, such as exterior mirrors, gear shift systems, and washing systems, for its customers' plants in Morocco. This production center is expected to be fully operational during the first quarter of 2018.
The Kuala Lumpur plant, meanwhile, will be dedicated to manufacturing products developed by Idneo, the group's engineering arm, for companies in the consumer goods, medical technology, energy efficiency, smart retail, and industrial sectors. This facility will be fully operational by the end of this year.
