- The investment plan will be developed throughout the three-year period 2024-2026, in the Group’s different factories.
- In environmental matters, the Group’s commitment is to achieve a CO2 reduction of 51% in 2030, compared to the 2018 base.
- The Board approves a complementary dividend, raising the total dividend to 17.4 million euros.
The General Shareholders’ Meeting of Miquel y Costas, held today, reported on the Group’s new investment plan, which contemplates disbursements amounting to 120 million euros over the next three years. These investments, planned for the period 2024-2026, will be allocated mainly to technological improvements, sustainability and improvements in infrastructure. In this sense, the investment effort is aligned with the Group’s industrial project, which aims to promote new products, develop infrastructure that facilitates growth, and promote environmental programs that promote the circular economy of its processes, decarbonization and reduction of costs.
In the technological block, Miquel y Costas will invest a total of 57 million euros in its different production centers to implement technological improvements in its machinery. This will allow the Group to obtain greater competitiveness and efficiency, expand its product portfolio and reduce its energy consumption, among other advantages. Likewise, the Capellades factory, where Smoking cigarette paper is produced, among others, will be expanded with the construction of an automatic warehouse.
For their part, the actions planned to optimize the logistics of the facilities, as well as maintenance and infrastructure improvements, will involve an investment of 38 million euros.
In line with its environmental commitment, Miquel y Costas will allocate a total of 25 million euros until 2026 to measures to reduce water consumption and continue moving towards the decarbonization of its production. In this chapter, the company, which supplies itself with 100% green electricity, will now focus on replacing gas consumption with decarbonized fuels, such as biomass, among other actions. For more than 20 years, the Miquel y Costas Group has focused on reducing the CO2 and water footprint of its centers and making the circular economy permeate the entire production and distribution chain.
As a result of its firm commitment to environmental protection, Miquel y Costas has become the first and only Spanish company recognized by the CDP with the ‘Triple A’ rating in sustainability. This prestigious international organization rates more than 20,000 companies from around the world for their disclosure and commitment to the fight against climate change, water consumption and forest management. Specifically, only 12 companies, including Miquel and Costas, are part of the ‘Triple A List’. Miquel y Costas has also undergone evaluations carried out by other international agencies such as EcoVadis, where it has obtained the Platinum rating, the highest.
The Group’s current commitment to the environment is to achieve a CO2 reduction of 51% in 2030, compared to the 2018 base year.
Approval of the 2023 accounts
The General Meeting has positively assessed the evolution of the Miquel y Costas Group throughout 2023, a year in which it obtained a consolidated net profit of 42.7 million euros. This exceeds the result obtained in the previous year by 35% due to the recovery of historical margins, lower inflationary pressures in the price of supplies, as well as the investments launched and the company’s commercial policy. . For its part, sales stood at 309.3 million euros.
Despite the current uncertain macroeconomic context and the impact that various geopolitical conflicts have had on supply chains, the Group’s forecast for the rest of the year is to maintain good results, in line with what has been achieved so far, as long as prices of energy and raw materials do not suffer significant variations.
Shareholder remuneration
Regarding its shareholder remuneration policy, the Board has approved the distribution of a complementary dividend, charged to the results of the 2023 financial year, for a gross amount of 4.9 million euros, which will be effective on the 18th of December. July. In this way, with the distribution of the complementary dividend, the total dividend corresponding to fiscal year 2023 will reach a gross value of 17.4 million euros, above that distributed in previous years.
In another item on the agenda, the Board has approved authorizing the board of directors to proceed with the amortization of treasury shares. The approved mandate is for the next 2 years.
Likewise, the General Meeting of Shareholders has given the green light to the modification of the company’s bylaws to introduce a new article that regulates the figure of the Honorary President, a position held by Jordi Mercader Miró.
