Menzies formalises collective layoffs at former Groundforce

The Menzies group, which controls SPDH (formerly Groundforce), informed the unions on the 14th that it had begun the process of collective dismissal of 300 workers at the company. After formalising the acquisition of 50.1% of the operation’s capital in June 2024 and committing to “strengthening handling capacity for aviation in Portugal”, investing “in advanced technology” and “supporting staff development”, the company is moving towards collective redundancy for “market reasons” and “reduced activity”, reads point 22 of the letter to which ECO has had access, signed by directors Rui Pedro Gomes and Juan Lorenzo Ramis.

After SPDH was declared insolvent in August 2021, and the company’s continuity was approved in September of that year, the entry of Menzies Aviation with 50.1% of the capital — the other 49.9% is under the control of TAP — allowed the entry of 2.5 million euros of funds from the new shareholder and TAP in proportion to its share capital, through debt conversion. Menzies is now using the insolvency plan approved by its creditors to cut 300 workers “over the next few months”. In total, the ex-Groundforce company has around 2,700 direct employees, with a further 1,400 on indirect contracts. Around 140 have already left by agreement, but far from the target of 300 workers.

The Menzies group explains that around 64% of the company’s costs are salary costs. “Reducing administrative and personnel costs becomes inevitable when you want to significantly reduce your monthly and annual fixed costs.” The process, adds Menzies, “is in line with the current global and national macroeconomic context, which, despite the optimism of the media, continues to impose caution”. In 2025, Menzies’ main arguments are still the Covid-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, with no end in sight, the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and the political crisis and uncertainty arising from the early elections in Portugal.

In the lengthy statement justifying the collective redundancy at SPDH, Menzies reveals that the company made losses of seven million and one million in 2021 and 2022 respectively. And although the accounts for 2023 have not yet been finalised, “due to the insolvency process, it is estimated that the net result will remain negative”. In 2022, the latest figures known, staff costs exceeded 90 million euros (around 76 million in 2021).

The Menzies group recalls that it had planned to invest 12.5 million euros, ten million of which in restructuring human resources, namely in this collective redundancy process. At the time the shareholder agreement was signed, a further 25.6 million euros of additional investment was expected. The administrators also mention the obligation to reimburse recognised creditors of the former Groundforce on a multi-annual basis, to the value of 46 million euros.

According to the figures revealed by Menzies itself at the time of the takeover, “Groundforce Portugal handles more than 100,000 aircraft movements every year at Portugal’s five busiest airports, where it provides ground and air cargo services to several of the world’s leading airlines”. The British company, owned by Agility, a Kuwaiti holding company, will have a 65% share in Portugal.