Huber is thinking big, attempting to bring ILSA’s revenue from 45 to 120 million euro in five years. Huber acquired Biolchim about 18 months ago, after having bought over 60% of ILSA’s shares in 2017, with the goal of becoming the top operator in the field of specialty products for the agricultural sector. After the Huber Engineered Materials’ last board meeting, the company’s president Dan Krawczyk and Paolo Girelli, former owner and now manager of ILSA, outlined the group’s strategies.
The goal
The goal is to take ILSA from a revenue of 45 million euro in 2023 (made of 30 in Italy and 15 in Brazil) to about 120 million within five years. What has the transition of ILSA into the hands of the Huber Group brought? “Now we can compete with industry giants, such as Syngenta, Bayer, and Sumitomo, as they havet have entered the biostimulant market and organic and organo-mineral fertilizers” and thus pushing on our segment, Girelli replied to Corriere del Veneto. In specialty fertilizers, Huber enters the market by focusing on product circularity. The company, in fact, uses waste from tanneries but doesn’t produce any waste itself.
ILSA’s model in the world
The Veneto-based entity employs 75 people in Italy and has recently invested €3.5 million to expand its Azignano plant (Vicenza) by 1,500-square-meter. “We are expanding our production capacity and creating a new line to make water-soluble products for organic farming”, Girelli pointed out. With regards to business done abroad, ILSA plans on focusing on its joint venture in Brazil. In doing so, it plans on builing a plant in the tanning district of São Paulo. It would be the 2nd in Brazil, after the existing one in Rio Grande. “We expect to conclude this operation by the end of 2024 and then open another by 2025”, Krawczyk said. The entity’s president also makes mention of ongoing negotiations, particularly in Mexico (a strategic country to serve the neighboring U.S. market). “We could open a new production site there as early as next year”, Girelli concludes.
Photo from ILSA’s socials
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