GROUP CONVENTION 2018: PLENTY OF ENTHUSIASM AND NEW IDEAS

2018/04/27

Interesting, stimulating, satisfying, and so on and so forth. The Convention 2018 has gathered all the positive developments, spirit and collaborative philosophy characterizing our group.

The annual appointment with the company management took place from 9 to 12 April at the headquarters in Brescia. The inaugural speech was held by Mario Tomasoni, Chief Executive Officer of the group, who presented in detail the satisfactory results of 2017 and above all the pillars of the future business plan 2019-2022. This was the object of the in-depth work carried out in the following days, involving as many as 35 colleagues in the process of strategic processing, including many colleagues of the 30-year-old, naturally building the future of our company. This was followed by the reports of the latest news and the future activities in wine, food, beer, research and development and communication sectors. The intervention edited by Luca Zavarise, head of Innotec, was transversal and stimulating for all markets. Innotec is a recently acquired important reality in the world of equipment, which has infused further lifeblood, skills and expertise to all our branches.

The data presented by Massimo Scolari, Chief Financial Officer, and Silvia Engheben, Group Controller, also received a particular attention: the company's turnover and EBITDA grew despite the poor harvest of the northern hemisphere, also thanks to the positive contribution given by Innotec acquisition. In addition to this, the main growth guidelines guiding the group in 2018 have been highlighted: investments in fixed assets, research and development, marketing and exhibitions; new hires; the constant attention to fixed costs; the launch of new products, and specific projects within the various businesses.

Extensive participation and discussion also animated the presentations of the managers of associated companies, who shared the current success cases and new opportunities they were able to seize in their country.

The Convention ended with the working groups, in order to identify new strategic steps and improvement areas for oenology, beer, research, equipment and food. The outcome of the meetings was particularly exciting, creating excellent conditions for the future.

In short, they were four days intense and full of stimuli. But with one common denominator: growing means growing together, thanks to collaboration, ideas and the desire to exploit new opportunities. "That's how we brilliantly overcame the disastrous harvest marking 2017, the worst of the last 50 years", - said CEO Mario Tomasoni proudly. "We believed in it to the end: we invested 1 million euros in research, development and quality control activities, we allocated 250.000 euros to studies and research with institutions and universities; and not least we hired new staff, including over 15 new commercials. Without forgetting the brand new Argentine headquarters", continued Tomasoni.

Not only: in 2017, we introduced - only in oenology - 24 new products. Numerous innovations also marked the beer and detergency sector, where we have been able to grow thanks to the ability to exploit new opportunities and realities appearing on the market.

There is also a careful and constant regulatory activity, in order to align the products to the continuous regulatory changes at the global level, and the intense activity of the specific technical committees for each business unit, including a group dedicated exclusively to the quality issue.

What to say? Stimuli and possibilities are not lacking. The desire to grow and to compete with new challenges is great. There are all the conditions for 2018 to be another record year!

Here are some moments of our Convention...