Grupo Siro Corporativo, the company that consolidates the entire business of the biscuit, pasta and cereal manufacturer Cerealto Siro Foodssuffered a net loss of 40.7 million euros at the end of the 2021 financial year, double that of the previous one, as shown by the accounts deposited in the Mercantile Registry.
Some red numbers that highlight the delicate situation that the company had been dragging, and that caused its sale, on July 1 of this year, to the funds Davidson Kempner and Afendisin a process in which the viability of it was up in the airand in which he had to intervene the Ministry of Industry. These funds took 76% of the capital in exchange for taking over all the financial debt of the group for “its subsequent or simultaneous capitalization”, explain the Siro accounts. In addition, the agreement contemplates “the contribution of an injection of liquidity to undertake the business plan and other actions aimed at improving the operational efficiency of the group.”
As of December 31, Siro accumulated a total financial debt of 393.2 million of euros. As explained in his financial report, of which 312 million corresponded to his syndicated financing, which was reclassified as short-term as the obligations contemplated in the financing contract had not been fulfilled.
A situation that raised the pressure on the viability of the company. In fact, your audit firm, Deloitte, already expressed doubts about the viability of the company in the 2020 accounts and also in the 2021 accounts, since the deal with Davidson Kemper and Afendis had not yet been closed.
In the last five years, Siro accumulated some consolidated losses of 127 million euros. Given the poor performance of its business, in 2018 it began a divestment process in the bakery and pastry segments, which ended in 2021. In that year, a capital gain of 28.5 million was recorded for the sale of the factories located in Medina del Campo (Valladolid) and Briviesca (Burgos).
“Davidson Kennpner and Afendis Capital Management are co-investors and operating partners in food and pharmaceutical businesses in EMEA with proven investment experiencen, restructuring, integration of manufacturing plants and distribution networks, with results of large-scale growth and record profitability, among others, in the biscuit, chocolate and snack industries around the world”, describes Siro about its new owners in the non-financial report
They announced this week an investment of 40 million over three years to modernize their factories. In addition, the new president, Cem Karakaş, has held meetings with their workers.
These aspire to reactivate Siro’s business. In 2021, its sales were 344.7 million, 1% more than in 2020, of which 50% were generated Mercadona. Of course, in the year of the pandemic that dependency was 69%.