BA Glass loses almost 60% of profits and closes factory in Greece
The integration of acquisitions in Mexico and Poland put pressure on the profitability of the Portuguese glass packaging giant, which stopped several production lines and closed a factory in Athens.
BA Glass’s profits shrank to 157.2 million euros in 2024, almost 60% below the result it achieved the previous year, when it made a strong return to international purchases with acquisitions in Mexico, Poland and the United Kingdom.
With the global glass packaging market recovering slowly and the integration of new operations abroad “weighing negatively” on profitability, the Vila Nova de Gaia-based giant achieved an EBITDA of 402 million euros, with a margin of 26.4%, significantly below the 533 million (35.7%) in 2023.
The financial data consulted by ECO shows that last year, the first with Tiago Moreira da Silva as CEO, these acquisitions had lower EBITDA margins and led to higher amortisation and impairment costs, lowering the operating profit margin from 26.4% to 15.9%.
Net debt increased by 380 million in the space of a year, with financial results increasing losses from 22.2 million to 34 million euros.
With the contribution of Mexico’s Vidrio Formas (60% stake) and the British glass recycling unit Recresco, for which it paid 380 million euros, as well as a third plant in Poland (Oszesze) bought from the giant Canpack, the world’s fourth largest glass packaging producer recorded a slight year-on-year increase (0.6%) in consolidated sales, to 1,532 million euros.
This sales performance was based on the rise in turnover in food packaging and in the beer and spirits segments, where it “strengthened its position in Mexico despite the decline in demand in the tequila market”.
In a year that began with high stock levels, the Portuguese multinational said that one of the biggest challenges continued to be keeping the production lines in operation. Pressured above all by the new operation in Mexico, which has extended its industrial presence to the American continent, the company accounted for a further reduction in production capacity for the second year running: -4.5% in 2024.
Tiago Moreira da Silva describes that “most factories faced difficulties” at the start of the year and “market conditions further complicated operations”, which led to the “temporary paralysis” of production lines in some industrial units and the definitive closure of the factory in Greece.
Located in Egaleo, on the outskirts of Athens, the last glass packaging factory in the country had been in the hands of BA Glass since 2017. At the time, the Portuguese group paid around 500 million euros to the Voulgarakis family to take over the Yioula Group, in a deal that included two other plants in Bulgaria (Sofia and Plovdiv) and one in Romania (Bucharest).
In its annual report, BA Glass justifies the closure with the “market crisis, coupled with the significant investment that would be required to modernise a facility with structural limitations”.
After closing the last financial year with a “solid financial and economic position” and “prepared to improve profitability” if the recovery of the glass packaging market in Europe and North America is confirmed, BA Glass warns in the same document that “the challenges ahead are substantial”.
“We need to be frugal in order to have a better chance of dealing with surprises that may come from tariffs, directly or indirectly, but also from the escalating war we have on the EU border”, summarises the CEO, who joined the company in 2008 and led operations in Iberia and Central Europe.
Food jars already worth a third of sales
Without Greece, BA Glass now has 13 glass factories in seven countries and five recycling plants in Portugal, Spain, the UK and Mexico.
In addition to the three industrial units in Portugal (Avintes, Marinha Grande and Venda Nova), it has three in Poland (Sieraków, Jedlice and Oszesze), two in Spain (León and Villafranca de los Barros), two in Bulgaria (Sofia and Plovdiv) and one each in Germany (Gardelegen), Romania (Bucharest) and Mexico (Lerma).
With sales recorded in more than 70 countries last year, BA Glass produced more than 11 billion bottles and jars: 34% for food, 26% for beer, 13% for wine, 13% for soft drinks and 13% for spirits.
The volume of investment, which had reached a record 203 million euros in 2023, fell to 178 million last year. More than 60% was spent on rebuilding furnaces, especially in Bulgaria and Portugal (Avintes), to increase the efficiency of operations and optimise energy consumption. In the field of innovation, to renew the portfolio and pursue business opportunities, it developed 381 new projects and doubled the launch of new models (136).
