Historic changeover at the top of the Barcelona-based paper company Miquel y Costas. The veteran businessman Jordi Mercader Miró, 80 years old, will leave the presidency of the group after the next general shareholders' meeting, scheduled for June 22. His son, Jordi Mercader Barata, who currently already holds the executive vice presidency of the company, will run for the presidency.
Mercader senior, who is the main shareholder of the listed company, has held the position of president for the last 32 years, a role he has combined with other responsibilities such as the presidency of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. He who was also president of the former INI will leave all his executive functions at Miquel y Costas, but will remain linked to the company as a proprietary director. "I'm not retiring," Mercader joked this Tuesday in a meeting with the press, after admitting that despite his age, taking this step "has been very hard" for him. Prior to the changeover, in 2022 the company appointed Ignasi Nieto as general manager.
The still president has reaffirmed his total commitment and confidence in the future of the company by assuring that "he has no interest in selling" his shares, "whatever the price." "It's a matter of conviction, of commitment to a project we are very happy with," he said, after pointing out that his objective over these three decades has been to ensure "the recurrence of results" and continuous investment to keep in top shape an industrial heritage he considers essential for the country.
In this sense, year after year, Miquel y Costas allocates between 30% and 40% of its profits to remunerate the shareholder via dividends, and the rest is invested in improving the machinery and production capacity of its factories, through three-year plans. Precisely, in 2023 the company plans to complete an investment of 100 million euros that it launched in 2021; of this amount, 46 million will be disbursed this year. According to Jordi Mercader, the group will have to work in the coming months on a new plan for the 2024-2027 period that will contemplate, "at least," the investment of another 100 million, although he predicted that surely the figure will end up being higher.
The future president, if so approved by the board, plans to develop a "continuist project" based on four pillars: maintaining financial strength; ensuring excellence and quality of products; betting on continuous innovation; and continuing to promote the various sustainability programs, aimed at reducing energy consumption and sourcing from renewable sources.
Although it is not actively seeking operations, Miquel y Costas will be attentive to the possibility of making acquisitions convinced that "opportunities will arise" in the market as a result of divestment operations by large multinational companies. "We will be reactive and, preferably, we will buy assets, rather than companies. What we will not do is buy a problem," explained Mercader son, who joined the group 17 years ago and has been a member of the board of directors since 2012.
In addition to appointing a new president, the general shareholders' meeting is expected to appoint two new independent directors, Teresa Busto ---former Airbus executive and president of Entalenta--- and former minister Narcís Serra, replacing Joaquim Coello and Kim Faura.
In 2022, Miquel y Costas managed to increase its sales by 11.9%, reaching 337 million euros. Net profit, at 31.6 million, was reduced by 38% as a consequence of the rise in energy and raw material costs. Despite this decrease, the group will maintain shareholder remuneration, with the payment of a dividend of 16.8 million, the same amount as in the previous year.
Industrial structure
Headquartered in Barcelona, Miquel y Costas is one of the oldest companies in Catalunya, with almost 300 years of history. The group, which has been listed on the stock exchange since 1978, is made up of fifteen companies and employs nearly 900 people. Its differentiation in the market lies in the production of certain types of highly specialized and high value-added paper, which has allowed it to survive in a sector dominated by international corporations that bill billions. Another key is its strong level of internationalization, since 88% of its business comes from the foreign market.
The main source of income (60% of sales) and profits (75% of the total) for Miquel y Costas lies in the manufacture of paper for tobacco production, a business niche in which it controls an 8% share of the global market, not including China. This production takes place at the factory the company has in Barcelona, located next to the Besós river and just below the road escalextric of the Nus de la Trinitat. It is a modernist factory built in 1907 that employs around 200 people and that, according to Mercader, is fully integrated into the urban environment and is a "benchmark in sustainability." "These types of factories cannot be relocated," he states.
The paper for the production of Bibles or tea bags are other major specialties of Miquel y Costas which, in Catalunya, has four other production centers located in Tortosa (Celesa), La Pobla de Claramunt (MB Papeles Especiales) and Capellades, the last two in the Anoia region. The group also owns two factories in the Valencian Community, located in Mislata and in Villarreal (Clariana). This last plant is specialized in the production of colored papers and thanks to new regulations that penalize single-use plastics has found a new business opportunity: the production of straws with a paper resistant to liquids. Finally, Miquel y Costas has a processing center in Argentina.
Ballots for the general elections
Although 60% of its sales still come from tobacco, Miquel y Costas is aware that it is a declining business, so its efforts are focused on boosting the area of special papers for different industrial uses, which has already reached a weight of 30%. In tea bags, for example, the company admits that right now it does not have enough capacity to absorb all the demand. Along these lines, of the 46 million that is planned to be invested this year, most will go to a technological innovation project in one of the MB Papeles Especiales machines intended to supply the food industry and other sectors such as decorative laminates. Eight million will also be invested in an automated warehouse in Capellades.
According to the future president, Miquel y Costas will launch new products aimed at replacing plastic in certain applications or types of value-added packaging. This year, in addition, the group will be one of the beneficiaries of the double electoral call, as it aims to supply printing presses that will manufacture ballot papers for the general elections with around 1,200 tons of paper, a figure equivalent to 40% of the 3,000 tons that will be consumed on the occasion of the election day on July 23.