Optical fibre, why does the giant Prysmian close the Battipaglia site? Controversies and questions
Prysmian wants to close the Battipaglia plant, where it produces optical fibre. The company and the unions criticize the Italian tenders which do not reward quality technology. Yet the company's revenues exceed 15 billion euros. All the details
Prysmian, an Italy-based company that makes cables for telecommunications and energy transmission, plans to close its factory in Battipaglia, Campania, giving up the production of optical fiber in Italy.
The decision – due to the high costs of energy and the choices of Italian telecommunications operators, according to the company – was recently communicated to the Ministry of Business, the Campania Region, AGCOM and the unions FEMCA, FILCTEM, UILTEC and UGL.
There are almost three hundred employees at the Salerno site.
KEEP THE PLANT ACTIVE UNTIL APRIL 30TH
As reported by Il Sole 24 Ore , in the minutes of the meeting held at the Ministry of Business between representatives of Prysmian, politics and workers we read of the need to keep the plant active until at least April 30th in order to allow the carrying out of the process of inserting a new subject. According to the Ministry of Business, there are three companies interested in the site, but it is not known which ones they are.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
A new meeting is scheduled for March 19th at the Ministry of Business on the future of the Battipaglia plant. We will discuss redundancy payments for employees, retirement support, early retirement incentives and a retraining plan.
WHY IS PRYSMIAN GIVING UP ITALY?
Prysmian's desire to close the Battipaglia site is not new: on the contrary, it has already been discussed for two years , given the losses recorded by the structure.
In February 2022, in fact, the FILCTEM, FEMCA and UILTEC unions stated that the company was "forced to favor the territory beyond the Alps", i.e. France, "rather than the national one to practice its investment policy".
The three acronyms accused the national tender for optical fibre, the implementing entity (i.e. Infratel, of the Invitalia group) and the then minister for technological innovation Vittorio Colao. “With the tender in question”, the organizations explained, “the competent ministry did not consider optical fiber as a strategic asset and consequently as a matter that does not require technical specifications. An inexplicable and wrong decision." France, on the contrary, indicated in its tender notices "Prysmian fiber produced in France".
According to UGL, the then government of Mario Draghi, "rather than favoring in the national tender for optical fiber a product of high research and quality such as that produced in the FOS (Prysmian spa) factories in Battipaglia, instead opted for a medium or poor quality fibre, imported from China". On the same topic, the CEO of the Prysmian group, Valerio Battista (in the photo), declared that Chinese fiber is lower in price, but "of insufficient quality" and "too sensitive to bending".
In France, the telecommunications body had established precise requirements on the optical fiber to be used in the national network: specifically, it had chosen A2 quality, which does not bend and is therefore safer from intrusion attempts. A2 is the type of fiber also produced by Prysmian.
THE ACCOUNTS OF PRYSMIAN
In 2023 Prysmian reported revenues of 15.3 billion euros, a drop of 1.1 percent less than in 2022 mainly attributable to the telecommunications division (blame of the decline in the US market). The group's adjusted EBITDA grew by 9.4 percent on an annual basis, to 1.6 billion; the adjusted EBITDA of the Telecom sector fell to 140 million euros, compared to 271 million in 2022.
Prysmian's net profit gained 7.5 percent, to 547 million. Free cash flow grew by 29.5 percent, to 724 million. Finally, net financial debt fell to 1.1 billion, compared to 1.4 billion in 2022.
Despite the results and the large orders obtained ( in Europe but also in Italy, with Terna ), Prysmian still intends to close the Battipaglia plant and resort to redundancy payments for the three hundred employees. Does the site, specialized in fiber optics, not meet the group's productivity requirements?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/prysmian-chiusura-stabilimento-battipaglia/ on Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:12:43 +0000.