Listen to the audio version of the article
«In times of difficulty we need to invest, the market today is particularly dynamic and full of opportunities to seize. We are putting 30 million euros on the ground between commercial expansion, hiring and acquisitions.” Roberto Fabbri, president of Abk Group of Finale Emilia, sees the glass half full, among the big names in the Sassuolo district who last October opened capital to the Cleon Capital fund, which entered with a minority share of 27% by injecting 45 million euros to finance innovation and international growth.
After over 100 million euros invested over the last seven years in cutting-edge technologies – including the new range of Full Vein 3D slabs which reproduce the veins of natural materials and the patented invisible induction cooking system incorporated into the ceramic tops, Cooking Surface Prime – and in the acquisition of the French Desvres, Abk is now preparing for new openings and new shopping. «We are studying possible operations between Europe and the United States, especially in the area of innovative technologies, the objective is to aim for important players, if the 30 million euros are not enough we are also ready to go into debt a little», anticipates the president. Who, like all his ceramist colleagues in the Emilia area, is suffering from the halt in global demand and has decided to close the two factories in Finale Emilia and Solignano (Modena) until the last week of January, using holidays and redundancy payments.
«We have never closed before, but for us too, after two years of excellent performance, 2023 will close in contraction. In any case we are talking about a single-digit drop, fortunately we still have the American market going strong. And it is precisely in the USA that we are planning new commercial investments which make us optimistic about the fact that we will start growing again in 2024″, adds Fabbri, at the helm of a group of 600 employees and 233 million in turnover, 76% of which is achieved across the border.
In Italy, however, the group is preparing to inaugurate within the next quarter, in Milan, the first Abk Studio, a flagship store-library, where designers and architects will be able to see the company’s product catalog first-hand and use digital platforms, « a format that we will replicate in other strategic areas abroad, while in Fiorano Modenese we will open a new management hub with a showroom of over 3 thousand square metres”, specifies Fabbri.