Change of corporate governance for Polti
Important change in the corporate governance of Polti Spa, the Como-based company known worldwide for steam applications, for both ironing and cleaning in the domestic and professional fields.
The ownership has in fact defined in these months the new governance structure of the company, in support of the next business objectives.
Among the top staff, Teresa Napoli Polti, co-founder of the company with her husband Franco Polti and until now Sole Director of Polti SpA, will remain as a senior consultant, as well as keeping important positions in other companies of the Group:
"For some time now I had expressed the desire to continue to manage the company giving the right space to the new generations, who with their managerial vision can today make fundamental contributions within our increasingly competitive market. Today we are at a historic turning point for our company and I am proud of it. A structured management, such as that proposed by my daughter and son, is the keystone to facing the challenges and opportunities of the future".
The shareholders’ meeting of July 13th deliberated the formation of the new collegiate body. The Board of Directors, which met for the first time on Monday 18th July, is composed of Francesca Polti - appointed Chairman and CEO - and the counsellors Stefano Polti and Walter Lironi.
Lironi’s entry into Polti’s top management body reveals the family’s will to open up corporate governance to the outside.
"The generational change - said Francesca Polti, new Chairman and CEO of the Board of Directors – has the goal to hand down the values that my brother and I inherited, to apply them to the new way of doing business today. The solidity of our company will allow us to exploit the enormous asset of experiences of the founders of Polti, my father and my mother, to continue to embrace innovation, technology, sustainability, the future. In this evolution, which we feel deeply about, we are happy to have at our side more than authorative external voice in the international financial economic field, like that of Walter".
Walter Lironi, who holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico in Milan and an MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston, is Visa’s Senior Vice President, Head of Visa Consulting & Analytics for Central and Eastern Europe, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa (CEMEA), based in Dubai, UAE. During his career he was Chief Transformation Officer at The Commercial Bank of Dubai (2015-2017) and Partner of McKinsey & Co where he spent 17 years.
"I am honored to be able to take this path alongside Francesca and Stefano" says Walter Lironi. "Polti represents the pride and excellence of our nation, an important international Brand. I will make available my experience and my enthusiasm to support the company in its path of continuous development".
Stefano Polti, already director of the group’s companies and founder of AromaPolti, a Benefit company operating for over 17 years in the coffee sector, maintains the role of responsibility for the Business-to-Business Division of the family company and holds the position of counsellor on the newly constituted Board of Directors, in this regard declares: "I am happy and honored to join Francesca and Walter on the board, it is an important step, almost necessary, for an Italian family business that wants to "surf" the current market dynamics instead of being overwhelmed."
In the same meeting, the 2021 financial statement was approved with positive results after already great growth in 2020: consolidated turnover amounted to €87 million with +8% compared to the previous year; the turnover developed in Italy maintains a proportion equal to about 50% of the total.
The general trend indicates an economic-financial solidity such as to lay the foundations for a future of further development. The profit and the revaluation of the brand portfolio have strengthened the net assets of the company, today amounting to €17.4 million, highlighting the value of intangible assets, through which Polti continues to hold leading position in reference markets.
Markets where Polti in 2021 showed excellent results in steam applications: 11% growth in the Italian market of Irons (steam generators) where it confirms its leader position in volume and confirms the #1 position in the steam cleaning market. Leadership in the segment of steam cleaning maintained, both in terms of volume and value, also in France and greater presence in the ironing market, in a year that saw the products for the care of the garments achieve a good perfomance after a long time. Polti is also a recognised and appreciated brand in Spain (also in this case leader in the market of Steam Cleaning with about 50% market share), growing in the United Kingdom (+29%) and in Germany (+80%) as well as registering a niche presence, but of absolute importance, in the USA with its own steam products for the disinfestation of bed bugs. Noteworthy are also the results in the other sectors of the market of the Small Household Appliance, such as vacuuming (up to + 30% depending on the country) - where new launches are expected soon - and in traditional steam irons - where the company entered in 2021 bringing the unique expertise of the inventor of the iron with boiler.
2022 is turning out a complex year, on the one hand increasing inflation that limits the consumer’s purchasing power, on the other the difficult macroeconomic
conjuncture characterised by increases in raw materials, the jump in transport costs, a war in the heart of Europe and, last but not least, the Italian crisis of government.
"We knew we were facing a complex year, but the prolongation of some macroeconomic phenomena put companies in difficulty. In particular, transport costs are out of line with the market dynamic and now seem linked to speculation that regulatory authorities and institutions, even supranational, will urgently face". This is what Francesca Polti hopes for and remains confident: "We, and many other Italian entrepreneurs, are investing because we believe in the future of the country, even and if this means rethinking the business model in a sustainable and innovative perspective."
27 July 2022
