Aug
6
Alfonso Paz-Andrade and Rosa Quintana. (Photo: Certo Xornal/FIS CC BY-SA 2.0)
Pescanova is capable of doubling its business, an opportunity Galicia ‘can not lose’
SPAIN
Tuesday, August 06, 2013, 23:10 (GMT + 9)
One of the main shareholders and former deputy director of Pescanova, Alfonso Paz-Andrade, addressed an open letter to the Minister of Marine Affairs of the Xunta de Galicia, Rosa Quintana, requesting “strong support” in the wake of the deep financial crisis faced by the multinational Galician firm.
“The situation is risky. The company has a strategic structure, size and position in the global context,” the entrepreneur points out in his letter, published as an editorial article in the journal Industrias Pesqueras, of which he is the director.
“We believe Pescanova is viable regardless of what the future holds and beyond the mistakes made by its officers, those whose functions are being assumed by the current reorganisation administrators belonging to the firm Deloitte,” adds Paz-Andrade.
But he stresses that to redirect the current business project of the Galician company, “more courage, more commitment, more involvement by all” is needed because of its importance to Galicia.
He explains: “For the record, we are not suggesting clemency to anyone, neither the continuation or restitution of anyone, but it is a lot what is going to be lost, a lot from what has been built with the effort and enthusiasm of thousands of sailors and thousands of women manufacturing products, who are highly qualified.”
Paz-Andrade acknowledges that “it will take time and conditions to create a balance of solvent situation, but it was also determination and willingness to succeed.”
In his letter, he also refers to the “shock in the financial media” that caused the forensic report prepared by KPMG, a detailed forensic-accounting analysis whose aim is to identify certain accounting practices employed by the multinational firm and its subsidiaries in recent years.
This document “shows that the company filed a financial debt that is significantly inferior to the real one as well as higher profits than those actually obtained. In magnitudes, a negative equity of EUR 928 million arises and a debt amounting to EUR 3,280 million,” explains the executive.
On the other hand, he argues that the price of fish is experiencing an upward trend that is considerably higher than the cost price, so he considers that “the EBITDA and cash flows of the projects in the fisheries sector combined with aquaculture have a future horizon, of increasing profitability.”
According to Paz-Andrade, the firm has performed mismanagement actions, “it made reckless investments given its capacity but in the right direction. Perhaps with little economic rigour, they were too expensive, and managed in an unorthodox way.”
In the letter to the Minister of Marine Affairs, he insists that “it is necessary to have the support of all, starting with the regional autonomous sector authorities, whose enthusiasm experienced in other times has faded and has become questionable silence in this whole process.”
“We send you this open letter with the hope that the higher courts read it, with more sensitivity and commitment. It’s important to assess the economic and social disaster that the disappearance of a company like Pescanova would mean for Galicia,” concludes the former delegate director.
Related article:
– PwC to develop Pescanova’s feasibility plan
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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