Grupo Calvo

Grupo Calvo, the tuna processing company which is partly-owned by three Spanish savings banks, has announced its sales figures for 2003. Caixanova, Caja Castilla La Mancha Corporación (CCM Corporación) and Caja de Burgos jointly acquired a 22.2% stake in the Galicia-based canning company in a capital-raising operation totalling €24.04m (October 2003, page 12). Caixanova acquired an 11.1% stake, with the other regional banks each taking a 5.5% stake. The Calvo family retained a 78.8% interest in the company. The investment was intended to back the firm's research and development programme, as well as facilitating its international expansion plans.Grupo Calvo registered turnover of €257.7m, which showed an increase of 5.3% on 2002 figures. The improved results - attributable to the strength of the group’s main brands, and also to increased catches of yellow fin tuna, which is a better quality fish, and creates better cost margins – enabled the group to ride out the downward trend in tuna prices during 2003.. The group’s EBITDA increased by 20.6% compared to 2002 levels, reaching €5.91m. This improvement is due to to Calvo’s investment in research and development, which the group intends to follow this year with a budget of €3m. Following the group’s decision to concentrate on its main brands, results indicate that Nostromo was the second-most popular brand in Italy, with a market share of 14%, whilst the Calvo brand achieved market share of 17% and 10% in Spain and Portugal respectively. The group’s strategy for 2004 is to continue to increase its processing of yellow fin tuna, as well as increasing its market share with new products based on the strength and quality of its existing brands. According to José Luis Calvo, president of the group, “The growth of our results in 2003 confirms our ability to generate resources in a price downturn, thanks to the loyalty shown by our clients toward the quality of our brands. We are optimistic with regard to this year, given that price prospects are more favourable and our entry in markets with the potential for high growth.â€

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• Southern Europe