Despite the challenges, the investment strategy remains unchanged with a budget of 70 million for 2023. Improving the competitiveness of the Group and investing in human capital continue to be top priorities.

“We are moderately pleased with the 2022 figures,” Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup, commented. “Despite an unpredictable and challenging year, we were able to achieve positive results. Although the rise in energy costs began to be felt in January, we managed to maintain our position in the first three months of the year due to a significant increase in demand. From the second quarter onwards, the European market experienced a significant slowdown due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which exacerbated the already soaring costs of energy and raw materials. The situation was completely out of hand and made worse by the fact that some raw materials were not available. This created significant challenges for us, especially in the chemical sector. We even had to stop operations at our Novara plant in the latter part of the year. Products similar to ours in the nylon supply chain from China and the US were being sold at a price lower than our variable cost.” 

The president continues: “At Group level, our internationalisation strategy helped us mitigate geopolitical risks in various countries. As a result, we were able to offset the challenges in the European chemicals and textile markets by leveraging our global presence in High Performance Polymers, where our numbers have held strong. As we began 2023, we regained our footing. However, the global economic and industrial scenario for the rest of the year remains highly uncertain, and forecasts are notably cautious.”

Even in these difficult times, the Group has continued to invest. In 2022, the High Performance Polymers Business Area completed the acquisition in India of the engineering plastics branch of Ester Industries Ltd, a listed company. Additionally, it began installing two new production lines in Mexico and Brazil, and confirmed plans to install a new extrusion line at the Villa d’Ogna production site in the province of Bergamo. These choices align with the Group’s goal of enhancing its worldwide presence and boosting competitiveness in high-potential growth markets. In a year where energy and raw material costs were certainly problematic, operating in geographically diverse markets and with varied applications proved to be an important tool in addressing the challenges. In this vein, a new production site spanning over 36,000 square metres has recently been inaugurated in China. The move is aimed at doubling the production capacity in line with the market’s growth expectations. 

“The new industrial area in China was constructed with the utmost respect for sustainability standards, achieving LEED Gold certified status,” notes Maurizio Radici, vice-president of RadiciGroup. Reducing our environmental impact and improving the various ESG aspects is at the heart of everything we do. Another example of this is the investment in industrial sites within the Specialty Chemicals sector to reduce CO2 emissions. This has generated a 70% overall reduction in emissions at Group level in the past 10 years. Our investment policy remains unchanged despite the concerns and high levels of caution surrounding the 2023 landscape. Having allocated EUR 84 million for 2022, we have now approved a budget of EUR 70 million for the current year. This budget will be divided among the various business areas of the Group to improve production facilities, to purchase more flexible machinery that – specifically in the textile sector – will enable the production of special yarns, and to drive process innovation by adopting new systems aimed at improving efficiency in all company functions.”