← Volver
30/12/2011
Message from the Chairman and CEO
The beginning of a new year is an excellent opportunity to recall our company's main objectives and reflect on what is expected of each of us in the year ahead.
As a solid firm with a history stretching over one hundred years, FCC has weathered quite a few crises in its time. Though we have never faced such a difficult economic situation as the present, we have the assets, the people and the determination not only to overcome it but also to become a more competitive company.
At FCC, we are responding with rigour to the challenges being presented by the crisis. Our primary goal is to maintain financial stability, so that we can continue to fund our operations without major perturbations.
This is the reason underlying the divestment of certain assets, which will enable us to move forward while safeguarding our core activities. The divestments enable us to maintain our leading positions in the areas which constitute our core business, such as environmental services and large infrastructure.
We must continue to focus on collecting accounts receivable so as to limit the need for borrowings; in parallel, we must implement strategies that enable us to generate cash flow and profits in our businesses. Divestments plus management of receivables will enable us to achieve a substantial reduction in debt, something that is vital at a time when credit is becoming both scarcer and more expensive in the financial markets.
Although more than half of our revenues in 2011 came from outside Spain, and we operate as a local firm in many countries, internationalisation is not only a necessity but also an opportunity for our group and for all of the people who make it up. Our presence in three sectors—Services, Infrastructure and Energy—that are experiencing exponential demand growth worldwide provides access to opportunities that we must seize, while not ignoring the difficulties posed by operating in other markets and cultures.
Since the crisis began three years ago, we have made excellent progress in improving efficiency. I am aware of the sacrifices that all of us have made. The adjustments were essential in order to remain competitive, maintain profitability, try to preserve jobs, and remunerate shareholders. We must continue to pursue efficiency, supported by our new technology platform, which will enable us to modernise processes and procedures and leverage our size and diversification.
This new year will be just as difficult as the preceding ones, if not more so, but I am confident that it will be the last year of this lengthy crisis. I am proud to belong to group with people of your calibre, with a committed Board of Directors and a core shareholder, Esther Koplowitz, who are doing their utmost to overcome those challenges.
I wish you and your families the very best in the coming year.
Very truly yours.
Baldomero Falcones Jaquotot
At FCC, we are responding with rigour to the challenges being presented by the crisis. Our primary goal is to maintain financial stability, so that we can continue to fund our operations without major perturbations.
This is the reason underlying the divestment of certain assets, which will enable us to move forward while safeguarding our core activities. The divestments enable us to maintain our leading positions in the areas which constitute our core business, such as environmental services and large infrastructure.
We must continue to focus on collecting accounts receivable so as to limit the need for borrowings; in parallel, we must implement strategies that enable us to generate cash flow and profits in our businesses. Divestments plus management of receivables will enable us to achieve a substantial reduction in debt, something that is vital at a time when credit is becoming both scarcer and more expensive in the financial markets.
Although more than half of our revenues in 2011 came from outside Spain, and we operate as a local firm in many countries, internationalisation is not only a necessity but also an opportunity for our group and for all of the people who make it up. Our presence in three sectors—Services, Infrastructure and Energy—that are experiencing exponential demand growth worldwide provides access to opportunities that we must seize, while not ignoring the difficulties posed by operating in other markets and cultures.
Since the crisis began three years ago, we have made excellent progress in improving efficiency. I am aware of the sacrifices that all of us have made. The adjustments were essential in order to remain competitive, maintain profitability, try to preserve jobs, and remunerate shareholders. We must continue to pursue efficiency, supported by our new technology platform, which will enable us to modernise processes and procedures and leverage our size and diversification.
This new year will be just as difficult as the preceding ones, if not more so, but I am confident that it will be the last year of this lengthy crisis. I am proud to belong to group with people of your calibre, with a committed Board of Directors and a core shareholder, Esther Koplowitz, who are doing their utmost to overcome those challenges.
I wish you and your families the very best in the coming year.
Very truly yours.
Baldomero Falcones Jaquotot