MONDRAGON surpassed the 11 billion sales barrier in 2023

MONDRAGON makes a positive reading of its results in 2023. The cooperatives in the Industry and Distribution areas reached 11,056 million euros in sales, with an increase of 5.1% over the figure for the previous year. With regard to employment, the average workforce stood at 70,500 people, with a slight increase over the previous year. Another noteworthy figure is the figure for investments, which amounted to 369 million euros, 6.4% higher than the figure for the previous year. EBITDA rose by 34.7% to 1,486 million euros, and the overall result amounted to 593 million euros.

The president of the Corporation, Iñigo Ucín, highlighted the positive performance of the group "in a context of uncertainty, conditioned by several international conflicts and their consequences on the markets."

These figures confirm that the cooperatives as a whole have been able to overcome a difficult year, in which geopolitics have conditioned the evolution of the economy and the markets. Likewise, the group's performance in the first four months of 2024 continues to be positive, even though the year is still immersed in a context of uncertainty for the companies. 

Distribution, Finance and Industry

The results of the Distribution and Finance areas were made public several weeks ago. In the Distribution area, Eroski had sales of 5,729 million (+6.3%) and results of 109 million (+70%). For their part, the four agri-food cooperatives of Erkop had a turnover of 290 million and results of 6.4 million. 

The Finance area stood out for the good performance of Laboral Kutxa, which obtained results of 222 million euros (+48%) and is one of the most solvent financial institutions in Spain. It is also worth highlighting the positive performance of LagunAro EPSV in 2023. The return on its portfolio was +7.94%, with a significant increase in the final stretch of the year. 

In the Industry area, MONDRAGON's industrial co-operatives, which employed an average workforce of 27,487 people, with a slight increase on the previous year, ended 2023 with a total aggregate turnover of 5,036 million (+3.9%) and a profit of 256 million.

Internationalization and investments

MONDRAGON remains firmly committed to internationalization. In the industrial area, 75% of sales were made in foreign markets. MONDRAGON's cooperatives have 104 production plants abroad, employing 9,854 workers. 

MONDRAGON's performance in the first four months of the year continues to rise, with sales up by 4.4% on the previous year.

Another noteworthy figure is the investments made, which totalled 202 million euros, an increase of 2.4% on the previous year. And of course, industrial employment, since the average workforce grew by 171 jobs compared to the average workforce of the previous year. Also noteworthy was the growth in industrial employment here (+429 people), in contrast to international employment, which fell by 2.6% to 9,854 people.

Evolution of industrial divisions

Regarding the evolution of the industrial divisions, a few notes. On the one hand, for the Components division, 2023 has been a year in which the activity in White Line has not recovered the levels of the first half of 2022. This situation is causing significant changes in both supply and demand. In this turbulent context, the division is managing to improve its position in the market, reaching world leadership positions in the cooking field.

In line with the expected evolution of the markets, 2023 has been a year in which sales have suffered a certain decline in the Construction Division, especially in the areas of packaging and home comfort. Even so, the path of productivity improvements has been maintained and notable results have been achieved, allowing the company to continue investing and promoting its future projects. 

The companies in the Capital Goods project are making significant progress, with a notable increase in their order backlog, especially in projects related to renewable energies, stamping press lines, as well as battery assembly, and with the irruption of the emerging space industry, or new space.  

The Engineering and Services project grew more than 12%. It is worth highlighting the progress made in its projects linked to the field of sustainability. 

In the Equipment division, 2023 has been a year of consolidation of the positive evolution of previous years. In addition, from the diversification point of view, it has in its portfolio several future projects that will underpin the growth of the division. And this year a new intercooperation effort has been made, seeking synergies among its cooperatives, always seeking the competitiveness and sustained profitability of its businesses.

The Corporation employed around 2,300 full-time R&D personnel, including 5 technology centers and 7 R&D units.

Finally, all the cooperatives integrated in the Automotive project ended the year with a 14% growth in sales compared to the previous year, exceeding, after four difficult years, the pre-pandemic volumes. Likewise, the number of new business wins has been high, both in combustion and electric vehicle technologies, although the distribution by products/businesses and regions has been uneven, with Europe, North America and India standing out on the positive side, and with more difficulties in the Chinese market. 

Knowledge

MONDRAGON's commitment to innovation can be seen in the Knowledge area. The Corporation employed around 2,300 people full time in R&D, including its 5 technology centers and its 7 R&D units. The number of families of patents in force held by MONDRAGON, amounts to 393, a really significant number in the Basque Country as a whole. The total R&D expenditure made by the industrial co-operatives came to 186 million euros.

Likewise, MONDRAGON continues to participate in various projects of an international nature related to the current challenges of society such as digitalization, artificial intelligence, circular economy or the reduction of environmental impact. In addition, the cooperatives have submitted more than 100 proposals to various European R&D programs.

This year’s evolution 

With regard to the evolution of the 2024 financial year, the Chairman of MONDRAGON's General Council, Iñigo Ucin, pointed out that the evolution of the business as a whole in the first four months of the year "continues along the lines of recent years, despite the uncertainty arising from the complex geostrategic situation at world level and the weakness of some important countries for us, above all Germany, central Europe and also China". Ucin added that "most of the cooperatives have a good order book and, therefore, the forecast for this year is also positive".

MONDRAGON’s next Congress

This year’s Congress will take place on July 17 at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. A total of 650 delegates representing all the cooperatives integrated in the Corporation have been summoned to this event. It will be the last appearance of Iñigo Ucín after 8 years at the head of the presidency of the General Council of the Corporation. In august, after his retirement, Ucín will be replaced by Pello Rodríguez. 

This year's Congress will also include, among other things, the presentation of the Socio-Business Policy 2025-2028, the corporation's new road map for the next four years, which sets out the main strategic guidelines to be taken into account by MONDRAGON's organizations when drawing up their respective strategic projects. It is a document drawn up jointly with the co-operatives and divisions, which will be presented by Pello Rodriguez and submitted for approval by the Congress.