Financial Statements analysis of Spanish ceramic tile companies

Luca Baraldi, Acimac Research Center, [email protected]

Although Spanish sales of ceramic tiles continued to grow, in 2015 the process of increased production efficiency measured through added value margin came to an end. This is revealed by the 3rd edition of the “Financial statement analysis of world ceramic tile producers”, published by the Acimac Research Department, which analyses the results of 75 Spanish ceramic tile companies, comparing them with the results of 88 Italian companies and further 162 foreign ones.

The analyses of the Spanish industry shows that the efficiency in the use of labour remained more or less stable in 2015, while gross and net profitability margins increased by approximately half a percentage point (EBITDA 9.3%, EBIT 4.9%, net profits 4%).

Return on equity (ROE) saw further growth to 6.5%, slightly higher than the Italian level, while return on investments (ROI) and return on sales (ROS) resumed growth after the previous year’s downturn.

Asset turnover ratio (ATR) also remained stable at the same average level as observed in Italy (0.78).

Spanish companies maintained their ability to achieve a good financial equilibrium (quick ratio = 1) and a slight improvement in short-term solvency (current ratio = 1.89). Cashflow saw further improvement and there was a marginal redistribution of debt towards long-term debt. Lastly, the Spanish companies maintained the previously observed increase in levels of investment, resulting in a further improvement in capital per employee.