Grupo Ubesol, integrated by the companies Ubesol S.L. and Laboratorios Maverick S.L.U., obtained a total consolidated turnover of more than 268 million euros in 2022, 5.8% more than the 253 million registered in 2021, thanks above all to the important growth experienced in international markets.
The global context in 2022, dominated by the increase in costs due to the rise in the cost of raw materials, logistics and energy, has caused a significant reduction in the group’s profits compared to the previous year. While in 2021 the net profit was 9.8 million euros, in 2022 it was 1.15 million euros. It should be noted that this loss of margin, assumed by the group, has contributed favorably to curbing inflation in the final price of its products.
Within the 20-25 Strategic Plan presented by the company, internationalisation is one of the key pillars for the future of the group and in 2022 there will already be more than 70 million units sold internationally, mainly of Personal Care products such as Shower Gels, Deodorants, Shampoos and a wide range of Wet Wipes. Its main way of growing internationally has been via Contract Manufacturing or TPM for the main multinationals in the Sector worldwide and to a lesser extent via Private Label for some of the main Retailers in Europe. In this way, the products manufactured by Grupo Ubesol begin to be sold throughout Europe and in new markets such as the USA, the Middle East, the Maghreb and South America.
The main strength in being able to work with the main multinationals in the sector has undoubtedly been the quality, not only of the products but also of the production processes to guarantee quality every day. That is why, in terms of quality, the group continues to bet heavily on international certifications and adds the IFS HPC in Ubesol in 2022 (at Laboratorios Maverick since 2020) to guarantee total quality in all phases of supply. This certification is added to the set of certifications that the company already has in the environmental dimension, such as ISO 14001, ISO 50001, FSC and, in the field of Occupational Health and Safety, ISO 45001. In addition, it is a member of Sedex Smeta and Ecovadis.
Regarding its sustainability strategy, other of the strategic pillars of Grupo Ubesol, in 2022 a strong investment was made in energy self-consumption, with the installation of 4,800 solar panels, which occupy 12,300m2. This has allowed it to become one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the personal care sector, which will generate approximately 20% of the energy demand of its production plants and will avoid the annual emission of 1,300 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. In addition, these solar panels power the chargers in the electric car spaces that the company has enabled, free of charge, for its internal collaborators and visitors, in order to promote sustainable mobility. The group’s commitment to integrating environmental protection has led it to expand its strategic Sustainability Plan until 2030.
The CEO of Grupo Ubesol, Jorge Úbeda, explains that “The industry is experiencing very difficult years and is forcing us to continually reinvent ourselves and, although our sales forecasts from the 20-25 strategic plan are being met, our profitability has fallen considerably in in recent years mainly due to the effects of the pandemic, energy costs, problems with global supply chains and raw material prices.
All of this has led us to rethink important changes internally to be able to adapt better and faster to new times and to review our entire organisational structure to also improve costs and, above all, response agility. For this reason, between 2022 and 2023, we have completely renewed the entire Board of Directors and we will continue to invest heavily in innovation to regain profitability in the future. This is why, despite having a large R&D team of around 60 professionals, distributed between Ulldecona and Atzeneta d’Albaida, we have opened a new innovation centre in 2022 in the Science Park of the University of Valencia. A strategic location accompanied by a reference ecosystem of innovation and research, which will undoubtedly help us to continue improving the quality of our products and in the search for innovative solutions for our clients.”