Consult Report and Accounts 2021 in Portuguese
Consult Report and Accounts 2021 in English
The year 2021 was a very demanding year for all of us. The year 2021 was a very demanding year for all of us. In 2020, we experienced for the first time a real pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in 2021 we experienced a "progressive recovery" that, despite many restrictions and constraints, it was possible for us to develop our activity, always striving for the health of our employees.
When in 2019 we established the strategic goals for the quadrennium, these were ambitious for the mandate. These goals were based on four fundamental pillars: growth in activity; the sustainability of the business; specialization; and internationalization.
These same goals were subdivided into actions that we identified in a very concrete way:
- Achieve business sustainability;
- Achieve PME Excellence status;
- Increase business volume and international presence;
- Grow in the national benchmark in the construction of bridges using form travellers;
- Consolidate our presence in the markets where we operate, through the opening of representations;
- Center activity on the study of singular works;
- Designing and marketing form travellers.
Now, at the time we wrote this report, we can say that these last few years have been marked, in a very strong way, by facts that were unthinkable when we established the goals for the mandate.
First of all, because even in 2020, we experienced a pandemic, a pandemic that had brutal consequences in terms of people's freedom. Immense restrictions were placed on the movement of people, with the sole aim of avoiding contact between humans and, therefore, the spread of the virus.
As a result, ConstruGomes' activity had to be rethought or, at least, significantly altered. In the production processes, we had to change procedures in order to separate employees from each other. Since ConstruGomes is a company with an international focus, the logistics processes were immensely affected, making it necessary to completely rethink them. In the commercial function and in internal procedures, we had to adopt new digital tools to get closer, both to clients and to the different bodies of the Company.
Obviously, all these changes had a negative impact, both from the point of view of the increase in expenses that their adoption entailed, and, mainly, from the reduction in productive performance that the adoption of measures aimed at mitigating the contagion by COVID-19 caused in our projects.
Over the many months of this pandemic, ConstruGomes managed to adopt measures incrementally. Unlike what happened in 2020, in 2021 we did not have any “lock-down” period. However, we were exposed to mandatory quarantine periods decreed by governments in the markets in which we operate. We were able to manage resources more efficiently, mitigating costs and trying to avoid production losses. To achieve this, it was necessary, in the first instance, an individual effort by each of our employees, and then a concerted effort at an organizational level, from the production managers of each project, through the hygiene and safety teams, to the central services of the Company that coordinated all these procedures. Thank you all for your commitment to ConstruGomes.
Even during the year 2021, the world began to experience difficulties in international supply chains, there was a spread of geopolitical tensions, the most visible consequence of which was the increase in energy prices. Now, the combination of these factors led to a generalized increase in prices, with an immediate impact on inflation. As a measure to combat inflation, central banks initiated processes of reducing liquidity in the markets and increasing interest rates. In the short term, a general increase in wages is expected. These are critical factors for the economy and for ConstruGomes.
This whole scenario of uncertainty has just been boosted by the resurgence of protectionist policies and, mainly, by the outbreak of a war in Ukraine.
Therefore, the context in which the Company's activity has been carried out over the last three years, and especially in 2021, is totally different from what we envisioned in 2019.
In 2021, the Company's turnover amounted to €22,630,410.09. Now, this amount compares with the amount of €25,257,096.39 recorded in 2020. Therefore, there is no doubt that, in 2021, the objective of growing activity and being PME Excellence was not achieved. However, throughout 2021 we were able to consolidate our activity, fundamentally through our international presence. We opened a new office in Germany, replicating what we had already done in Belgium in 2019.
We continue to focus our activity on the study and execution of unique works, with particular emphasis on the execution of the project in Paraguay. In Portugal, the award of the construction of four viaducts on the EN14 as well as the award of the Viaduto de Pardais and the execution of three bridges in Germany.
We were also able to manufacture and supply a set of form travellers for the Paraguay project. Therefore, we can say that, despite the very special context we live in, most of the strategic goals identified above were effectively achieved.
And, we cannot fail to express our satisfaction with the fact that, even in this very special context, the net results for the year were positive at €645,568.30. In fact, throughout the term of office, the net results were always positive. This demonstrates the resilience of the Company and the assertiveness of the strategy.
We will remain focused on training the Company, and at this level we cannot fail to draw attention to the internal training of our resources. But we will also act in terms of investment, creating new buildings in Perelhal and acquiring or producing new production equipment.
At a strategic level, we will try to grow in the value chain and, based on our experience and production capacity, we will try to compete for some specific projects as general contractors. Incidentally, we already did so in 2021 when we competed for the Francisco António dos Santos Bridge project in Porto, in a consortium with another Portuguese company.
We will also try to reinforce our presence in the energy sector, taking advantage of the current political context. We already have relevant experience in gas storage projects, dams, combined cycle power plants, nuclear power plants and wind energy production. We believe that this sector will have large investments in the coming years and that it will practice more advantageous prices. These are competitive advantages that we should and will take advantage of.
Thus, it is our conviction that the strategic plan was coherent and, taking into account the changes in context and the adaptations introduced in the meantime, remains valid and will be able to boost the Company's activity and its profitability.
With this plan, we are certain that ConstruGomes will continue to build bridges around the world, fully applying the corporate slogan “Bridging the World”.
