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Abanca, owner of Nueva Pescanova, will contribute 71 million euros in a new capital increase for a total of 72.6 million euros, proposed by the board of directors. This operation will provide the necessary funds to boost the company’s future growth.
The capital increase will be presented at a forthcoming general meeting of shareholders, after the company has returned to profitability. During the first five months of Nueva Pescanova’s fiscal year (April to August), the company has doubled its gross operating profit (ebitda), exceeding 18 million euros, as well as increasing its turnover by 2%.
With these results, Nueva Pescanova stresses that ‘it has managed to reverse the trend’, and assures that it can face the near future with optimism. Its objective is to reach an ebitda of 37.5 million euros in the first nine months of the year, which would mean almost quadrupling the figure obtained in the whole of the 2023-2024 financial year.
In the last fiscal year (April 2023 to March 2024), the company reported a loss of 131 million euros, of which 42 million euros was due to a provision to clean up the balance sheet. Sales were below one billion euros.
Nueva Pescanova began a new phase after the arrival of Jorge Escudero as CEO a year ago, replacing Ignacio González. Many of the new management’s decisions, such as the simplification and renewal of the executive committee to speed up decision-making, have been aimed at improving efficiency, following ‘a new business plan, commercial reorganisation, redesigning processes to improve service and optimising working capital’.
The company has hired EY to seek operational improvements, as EXPANSIÓN reported on 3 September. In this phase, there has been a progressive departure of senior managers and the workforce has been reduced by 76 employees at the headquarters through an ERE.
The board of Nueva Pescanova will also propose to the shareholders’ meeting a nominal reduction in shareholdings to offset losses and clean up the balance sheet, which will allow it to recover liquidity and solvency to implement its 2024-2028 plan.