SENER Group Reports Continued Growth
HMS Queen Elizabeth afloat, developed with SENER’s FORAN System (©BAE Systems)
Bokpoort solar power plant in South Africa (Image: SENER Group)
Toluca-Mexico City passenger train construction project, in Mexico (Image: SENER Group)
Rosetta probe flying model, where SENER louvres can be seen (Image: SENER Group)
Turnover increased by 8 percent to reach 1.315 billion Euros, with net profit rising by 66 percent to reach 57.8 million Euros.
The engineering and technology group SENER ended 2014 with a turnover of 1,315.7 billion Euros; an increase of 8.02 percent over the previous year. The group’s operating result came to 73.3 million Euros, representing an increase of 54.7 percent compared to 2013, and the holding company’s profit reached 57.8 million Euros (an increase of 66.1 percent). The number of people working at SENER has remained almost constant at 5,541 (a decrease of 0.52 percent). Generally speaking, SENER carried out its operations very effectively in 2014, the group said.
These results can be broken down by Business Area within the SENER Group:
- In Engineering & Construction, SENER’s revenue reached 669.8 million Euros, representing an increase of 19.2 percent. Despite the increase in sales, the operating result for Engineering & Construction fell in 2014 to 29.9 million Euros (a drop of 46.4 percent), mostly due to the tighter margins of a highly competitive international market. Net profit amounted to 30.7 million Euros (a fall of 15.1 percent).
- In Aeronautics, the figure was 655.9 million Euros (a rise of 3.6 percent), while the operating result was 57.6 million Euros (up 21.5 percent) and net profit was 37.9 million Euros (a 40.5 percent increase). These great results provide confirmation that the gradual transition of ITP’s business from defense programs to turbine production for civil applications (particularly the Trent engines developed with Rolls-Royce) has been well managed.
- In Energy & Environment, 2014 was the year in which the group completed its assimilation of the regulatory changes affecting the Special Regime enacted by the Spanish Government, a process that began in 2013. As a result, the work and investments underway were cancelled and the three pig manure treatment units owned or partially owned by SENER were closed. In parallel to this, the Torresol Energy thermosolar plants carried out a cost-cutting and refinancing plan in order to maintain their financial viability.
3i Strategy: Innovation, Internationalization and Investment
SENER said it continued to apply its strategy based on investment in developing new technologies and on the quality of its solutions to open opportunities in a market with no geographical limitations. The international projects won thanks to differentiated technology give the group its largest volume of work. Its FORAN System for marine design, thermosolar power plants and low-pressure turbines for aircraft engines are examples of this.
Innovation: in 2014, SENER Group charged up to 79 million Euros to its profit and loss account as research and development (R&D). This figure represents 6 percent of the group’s total turnover. This initiative towards healthy organic growth is the best measure of SENER’s firm commitment to continued improvement and expansion of its differentiated technological products and services.
Internationalization: in 2014 almost all of SENER’s activities and business originated in international projects, with important Engineering & Construction contracts won in France, Belgium, Algeria, the Persian Gulf, India, Morocco, South Africa and Bolivia. When it comes to its commercial presence in new countries, SENER’s core development continued to focus on building a strong presence in the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. Mexico is still an important market. It is the Group’s second most biggest country in terms of people, with 918 employees, some in Engineering & Construction (which has successfully diversified its operations, hitherto centered on the energy sector and now moving into Transport Infrastructure) and some in Aeronautics, where ITP has been extending its factory in Querétaro and increasing headcount in ITP Mexico’s engineering team.
Investment: group investment in tangible and intangible assets in 2014 came to a total of 46 million Euros (excluding the 79 million Euros of R&D allocated in its income statement) and was principally due to tangible assets relating to ITP’s increase in industrial capacity and testing methods (28.3 million Euros). Additionally, financial investment amounted to 6.4 million Euros, the majority of which was related to Energy & Environment.
Forecast for 2015
This year has started with a good outlook for business across all areas of the group, SENER said. In Engineering & Construction, there has been a sharp increase in the group’s orders over the first half of the year, ensuring significant growth over the course of 2015. ITP, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014, signed a new agreement in March 2015 which reinforces its alliance with Rolls-Royce and confirms its role in leading design and as the sole supplier of low-pressure turbine modules to equip engines of today and of the next generation. To this end, ITP must invest just over 75 million Euros in R&D over the next five years to develop the required technology. In terms of Energy & Environment, once the refinancing of its outstanding debt is complete, future results of the investment portfolio should be positive.
SENER reports its opportunities are growing stronger each day in a fully international environment. SENER is taking these opportunities from a strong commercial position, combined with a very healthy operating account and balance sheet. SENER believes that all this, together with the work of the group’s people, will allow SENER to continue to grow in line with its Innovation, Internationalization and Investment strategy.
