«Looking at Paglieri’s many years of history, we can confidently affirm that the company is used to dealing with various crises and that, over time, it has always been able to find new ideas to successfully adapt to the changing conditions of the context.
In relation to the most recent pandemic crisis, since the first moment of the health emergency we have adopted risk containment measures which, combined with the sense of responsibility and dedication of all our collaborators, have allowed the company to maintain full continuity operational even during the most critical moments of the pandemic ». Andrea Bastoni, general manager of Paglieri, is optimistic about the future of the company – born in Italy in 1876 from an idea of Lodovico Paglieri – which produces body and home care products with brands such as Felce Azzurra, Cléo, Labrosan and SapoNello distributing them in 140 countries and employing 130 employees in the Alexandria plant.
“In fact – continues the manager – we have never unplugged working on several guidelines and maintaining constant contact with the market and with our customers. In a nutshell, we have not experienced a real difference between the pre and post Covid periods: following the change of strategy adopted in 2016, our growth is in fact developing continuously on an organic basis both on the Italian and foreign markets “.
Consumer hygiene habits, both in home care and personal care, have changed: “You wash your hands more, you are much more careful about disinfecting surfaces, you buy much more online than before. In short. , at the market level, the pandemic has triggered a long wave of behavioral changes that it is difficult to understand if it will last and what trajectory it may have – observes Bastoni -. At the production level, however, the main concern today is represented by the huge increase in the cost of all raw materials, energy and all the components that make up the products. It is a generalized increase on all fronts, the result of the strong inflationary push we are experiencing at the moment ».
And he adds: “The 2020 financial statements are characterized by revenues which went from 129.7 million euros in 2019 to 130.4 million with an excellent result obtained in terms of gross operating margin, which marked a strong increase (+ 52.6% ) compared to 2019, at 13.1 million euros. Significant development also at the Roi level (at 14.8% compared to 9.25% in the previous year). The forecasts for the closure of 2021 are still very positive: in fact, we estimate an increase in overall turnover of more than 5% ».
Foreign business saw growth in 2020 of around 20%. «Also in 2021 we continue to experience a strongly positive trend, with a rate similar to that of last year, driven by the excellent performances of Poland, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries – explains the manager -. The weight of exports has steadily increased in recent years, reaching around 12%. Looking to the future, the group’s goal will be to develop the business in the EU and expand to new geographies in the Gulf countries and Asia by continuing to consolidate the domestic business through the progressive growth of the shower gel segment. The positive trend continues also in the softeners market with Felce Azzurra, which in September achieved the leadership of the segment. On the innovation front, we introduced the Felce Azzurra automatic spray refills for environments and liquid soaps in refill format. Finally, we are working to make our product portfolio even more efficient and competitive ».