In a year marked socially and economically by the Covid-19 pandemic and with 2022 characterised from the very first months by the war in Ukraine and a significant rise in raw material and energy prices, CMB closes the 2021 financial year in profit with a turnover of more than EUR 746 million, recording a strong recovery, an unprecedented result and the possibility of remunerating shareholders’ capital, as well as confirming the traditional rebate policies, to which 50% of profits will be allocated. Construction is the segment with the strongest growth, but the Real Estate segment also doubled the previous year’s result with revenues of more than EUR 41 million.
From a commercial point of view, CMB consolidated the volume of new acquisitions in 2021, focusing on works capable of enhancing its expertise and guaranteeing good margins for new orders. The overall portfolio remained stable with a well-balanced mix of construction and services, standing at around EUR 2.8 billion. In the last few days, news has been released of the important awarding of the contract for the Bologna Tram’s Red Line to the consortium led by CMB, together with Alstom and Pavimental. The work will start in the coming months and is worth more than EUR 300 million. At 16.5 kilometres long, the new line will connect Borgo Panigale, the western terminus where a park-and-ride carpark (380 spaces) and an interchange terminal with suburban lines are planned, to the Agricultural Faculty at CAAB, with a further branch from the Exhibition Centre to the Michelino carpark.
“From a strategic point of view,” commented President Carlo Zini, “2021 was characterised by having brought the foreign component of turnover to an incidence of around 20% of the overall turnover and having strengthened the equity and financial structure, capable of withstanding this difficult economic situation. The decision to diversify the Group’s activities in the area of facility management, heat management and energy efficiency services was also a winner, which proved to be fundamental in guaranteeing the profitability levels achieved.”
The agreement also provides for the supply and management of furniture and equipment: particular attention has been paid to the solutions relating to the bed head unit of ordinary hospital wards and to the patient lift in order to make them more versatile, functional and hygienic. The bed head unit, for example, has been transformed into a vertical technical element for utilities and integrated by a wall unit with two shelves for personal effects. This solution allows great flexibility in the destinations of use, taking into account the need for possible readaptations due to Covid or future emergencies. In fact, the element has been designed to allow the hospital rooms to be converted from ordinary to semi-intensive in a short time and in a non-invasive way by replacing the expanded version of the vertical technical element with a simple adjustment of the furniture components.
On the employment side, 2021 was a year of impetuous growth: the strong recovery in turnover allowed for the hiring of 100 new employees, many of them young engineers with a high percentage of female staff (35% of the total). All this aided the progressive rejuvenation of the workforce against the natural company turnover, increasing employment levels. The drafting of the 2020 Sustainability Report has laid the foundations for setting and defining the corporate policy and sustainability goals that CMB has set for itself and that will be documented in the first 2021 Sustainability Report to be published in October 2022.
The Shareholders’ Meeting was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 at 9.30 a.m. at CMB’s headquarters. Legacoop President, Mauro Lusetti, and President of the Integra Consortium, Aldo Soldi, were both in attendance.
