The General Meeting of Ence – Energía y Celulosa has approved the annual accounts for the 2019 financial year in a session held electronically due to the current health crisis. In this way, the new legal mechanisms made available to companies have been used to hold the meetings called before the state of alarm was decreed.
The President of Ence, Ignacio Colmenares, acknowledged in his speech that, although 2019 has been “very demanding”, the company “has been strengthened in its three businesses: Pulp, Energy and Forestry”. “The investments made and the operational effort of the last few months have begun to pay off. In the current situation of health crisis, there may be some changes with respect to our forecasts, but this effort is a solid basis to face this exercise with the greatest possible security “, he declared.
The company’s objectives for the coming years are “growth, diversification and sustainability” in all its activities. “We have to look ahead, think of new challenges. The first is to overcome the consequences that the global health crisis is bringing with it. The pulp business is more alive than ever, paper is replacing plastic, and the sustainable generation of electrical energy is at the top of consumer preferences, “explained the President of the company.
In the Pulp business, he recalled the difficulties of the sector in 2019, when the global price plummeted to record lows, until it stabilized at the end of the year. The company increased its production capacity and efficiency in 2019 thanks to a great investment effort, which will allow the production of more than one million tons in 2020, with lower costs. Furthermore, “the portfolio of commercial contracts with our European clients improved considerably.” On the other hand, the company works “intensely” in defending the extension of the Pontevedra biofactory concession until 2073.
In the Energy business, the construction of two new biomass plants in Huelva and Puertollano was completed last year, which are in operation and add nearly 100 MW of renewable energy. The company will focus on “maintaining growth and diversification towards photovoltaics and hybridization”.
Ence has approved a new Sustainability Master Plan, which has allowed in 2019 “to improve 14% in Safety, to progress in our environmental behavior, and to do so in an area as important as equality”, so that currently the wage gap of gender in the company is zero.
“Today our priority at Ence is the consolidation of last year’s investments, and of course, the reduction of costs. Great opportunities will open up in our businesses to grow; to strengthen ourselves where we are leaders and embark on new paths; to get closer to the communities with which we live and contribute to their well-being; to advance towards excellence in sustainability; and to generate value and profitability for our shareholders ”, concluded the President of Ence.
Finally, the General Shareholders’ Meeting of Ence has approved, at the proposal of the Board of Directors, the re-election as a member of the Board of Ignacio Colmenares with the status of executive director, as well as Víctor Urrutia Vallejo, with the status of proprietary director.
