LB Technology Group sees strong recovery in 2021

Sustainability, research and technological innovation, automation, customer service and market presence are the keywords for 2022

LB Technology Group, together with its three international subsidiaries (LB USA, LB Spain and LB India), Sitec (which will be fully incorporated as of 1 January 2022) and the subsidiary Sermat, reported a strong recovery in 2021 with more than 50% year-on-year growth, higher than the ceramic machinery industry’s estimated sector-wide upturn of 45%.

Following the appointment of Corrado Fanti as the new CEO in October 2020, in 2021 the group was able to implement the new corporate strategies sought by Astraco, the club deal platform that coordinates the group of investors who have joined the shareholder structure, thus paving the way for a process of corporate reorganisation and managerialisation.

A number of key operations involving various business areas were carried out in 2021. The first was the strengthening of the group’s financial position with the arrival of illimity Bank, an institutional player which will provide the investment needed to achieve the ambitious development goals over the coming years. The next was the acquisition of the assets of CMF Technology, which has resulted in a series of new patents and expansion of the range of technologies, as well as the opening of the new showroom, a functional and aesthetically pleasing space specially designed to present the ceramic products made using LB technologies.

The 2021 results owe much to the LB Group’s continued efforts to achieve the critical success factors set out in the three-year business plan presented at the beginning of the year: research and technological innovation, automation and digitalisation, service, customisation of plants and an ongoing market presence, as well as the sustainability project launched in September this year. For the whole of 2022, LB will be engaged in a rigorous process of adopting an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) policy, drawing up its first sustainability report and above all analysing the organisation’s carbon footprint.

Revenue is forecast to grow by 10% year-on-year in 2022 across all of LB’s core sectors (ceramics, ready-mixed construction products, mining, agrochemicals and recycling), with a focus on the granulation process and technologies that contribute to the circular economy.