The VESCO group, subsidiary of the clay mining direction of the investment company UMG Investments, sold 2.7 million tons of clay in 2019. VESCO exported about 86% of its clay to markets in 25 countries. The largest consumers of clay were ceramic tile manufacturers in Spain accounting for more than 30% of all sales.
The company received USD 97.2 million of gross profit, which is 6% lower than in 2018.
“We have a strong business model and international relations established for years. Therefore, we clearly understand periodic slight market movements. Customers from Spain and Italy revised their stock reserves last year, so we adjusted production volumes. We worked on a scheduled basis with one hundred percent staff workload, but without growth in sales. Recently, we have received pre-orders from our key customers, and we understand that the volumes lost during optimization of the partners’ stockhouses will return in 2020. Taking into account that global economic slowdown is expected, that may lead to a decline of production in many industries, the most realistic scenario for this year is to maintain sales at the level of the previous year”, explains Eugen Tsymarman, CEO of VESCO. “In 2020, we will focus on the implementation of strategic objectives, thus strengthening the raw materials reserves and improving ‘flexibility’ of the product portfolio. At any time, we are ready to supply shipment of available volumes of clay and are looking forward to expanding our shipping volumes.”
VESCO always fulfills its obligations for salary and tax payments on time and in full, and also invests in the development of employees and regions of presence. Budget contributions accounted for more than UAH 348.3 million as taxes and charges in 2019. VESCO social investments in the region of presence amounted to UAH 2.8 million, which is 55% higher than last year. Among priority sectors of corporate responsibility were social infrastructure, sports, education, medicine, assistance to socially vulnerable groups in Ukraine.