Press room

Jesús Catania began by recalling the happy memories of the events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the MCC in 2006, the celebration of which "has been accompanied by some really excellent figures for the year". Accompanied at the table by the Vice-presidents Juan Mª Otaegui, José María Aldekoa and Constan Dacosta, Catania spelt out the main figures, pointing out that total sales amounted to 13,390 million euros, up 13%; Consolidated Profits stood at 677 million euros, up 24.2% and Equity totalled 4,696 million, up 11%.

The Financial Area had a brilliant year. Caja Laboral ended the year with 12,333 million euros of assets under administration (+11,8%) and increased its profits before tax by 17%. Lagun Aro’s Endowment Fund achieved a good level of return at 8.3% and Seguros Lagun Aro again posted a significant increase in premiums and profits.

The Industrial Area posted a turnover of 6,876 million euros, which was a rise of 19.4%, including for the first time a full year from Fagor Brandt in France. At the international level, sales grew by 24%, to stand at 3,896 million euros and account for 56.7% of the total. The number of production subsidiaries abroad rose to 65, which together produced goods to the value of 1,469 million euros. Special mention needs to be made of the 300,000m2 Industrial Estate promoted by the MCC in Kunshan, close to Shanghai, with four subsidiaries already in operation there.

As far as the Distribution Area is concerned, it also had a good year, with a turnover of 6,514 million euros (+7%) and excellent progress in terms of profits with a 33% rise. A hundred new stores were opened all over Spain and, at the international level, there was consolidation of the Alidis partnership with the French group Les Mosquetaires and the German group Edeka, making better prices and a more extensive range of products possible, to the benefit of customers.

Total investment for the Corporation as a whole came to a new record figure of 1,243 million euros, with a spectacular increase of 43.5% compared to the previous year. This led to the creation of new jobs, ending the year with a total workforce of 83,601 people, 5,146 up on 2005, of which 1,321 were created in our local region, the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarra.

Of the 83,601 people employed in the Corporation at the end of 2006, 43.9% were working in the Basque Autonomous Community, 37.3% in other regions of Spain and 18.8% abroad, where 15,754 people were working, of which 14,257 were doing so in the industrial area.

Jesús Catania also stressed the importance of innovation in the current development of the Corporation, channelled through the co-operatives own R&D departments, the Corporate Science Plan, the 12 corporate and sectorial Technology Centres and the Garaia Innovation Park.

Finally, both Jesús Catania and the future President of the General Council, José Mª Aldekoa, highlighted the important challenge that, within the current globalisation process, the creation of local employment, preferably of a co-operative nature, is for the MCC. This is why the Promotion Centre has been set up, which started to operate in 2006; five new industrial projects were launched in 2006 and the challenge of creating local employment was included as part of the Business Policy for 2009-2012, which will later serve as the basis for corporate strategic reflection about that period and which will be taken to the Co-operative Congress for approval on 30 May next.
 

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