Visabeira posts €46.3M profit for 2022, up 22% Y-o-Y

  • Lusa
  • 12 May 2023

"Organic growth was the main pillar of the remarkable performance of the group's activity, namely in the telecommunications and energy network engineering business area," the statement said.

Visabeira Group’s profit rose 22% in 2022 compared to 2021 to €46.3 million, with turnover growing 24% to the “historic milestone” of €1.452 billion, the company announced on Friday.

“2022 saw a sharp increase in energy, fuel and raw material costs, an inevitable consequence in view of the upsurge in inflation, caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Despite these constraints, the Visabeira Group demonstrated management capacity and innovation that allowed it to find solutions that mitigated the negative impact of the social and economic environment that affected global society,” the company said in a statement.

In the period under review, EBITDA (earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation) of the Viseu-based group increased 14% to 210 million euros, and sales reached “the historic milestone” of €1.452 billion, up 281 million compared to 2021, with “65% of this increase obtained organically”.

“Organic growth was the main pillar of the remarkable performance of the group’s activity, namely in the telecommunications and energy network engineering business area,” the statement said.

Last year the foreign market accounted for 79% of Visabeira’s turnover – 62% Europe, 21% Portugal, 6% America, Asia and Oceania and 11% Africa – with a “guaranteed” €4.4 billion of turnover in the portfolio, “with a relevant proportion in Europe, namely in the group’s core business.

Abroad, the Visabeira group says it maintains “as its main strategy the growth of its ‘core’ [core] activities – provision of telecommunications and energy network engineering services – for the main operators”.

“The European market, excluding Portugal, represents an increasingly relevant dimension for the group,” it says, detailing that by the end of 2022, its turnover reached €903 million, a 31% growth compared to 2021, with the main markets being France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Also highlighted is the “relevant performance” of Africa, contributing about €155 million to turnover, up 52% compared to 2021, while the USA, Asia and Oceania invoiced €85 million.

By business area, Visabeira Global, the holding company that integrates the telecommunications, energy, technology and construction businesses, recorded a turnover of €1.21 billion and is still the segment €with the greatest weight in the group, accounting for 83% of turnover, and having grown 23% compared to the previous year.

According to the company, “these results show excellent operational performance in telecommunications and energy network engineering services both nationally and internationally, as well as in its own cable television operations in Angola, Mozambique, and operations in Morocco and Sao Tome and Principe, via Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicações.

Visabeira Indústria invoiced €189 million, a year-on-year increase of 23%, contributing 13% to consolidated turnover, highlighting the “excellent results” of Vista Alegre, which reached “an all-time high in sales” of €143 million and an EBITDA of €27.5 million.

Visabeira Turismo, Imobiliária e Serviços, “in the process of post-pandemic recovery”, invoiced €53 million, representing around 4% of the Group’s total volume of activity”.

By 2022, the Visabeira group says it will have reduced consolidated net debt by more than €100 million compared to 2021, which represents a reduction in the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 2.8 times.