Serveo is the new brand of Ferrovial Servicios Infraestructuras, the Ferrovial subsidiary acquired in February by . The Spanish investment fund has taken 75.01% of the capital and the group chaired by Rafael del Pino maintains 24.99% -their plan is to continue until Portobello decides to sell-. A new stage in which Juan Ignacio Beltrán emerges as CEO of the company, who already held the highest direct responsibilities of the business under the umbrella of Ferrovial.
Serveo faces the future with the financial capacity conferred by its new reference shareholder. Not in vain, as revealed by Beltrán in an interview with this newspaper, the company will have its radar activated to take advantage of opportunities and grow inorganically. “We can consider acquisitions,” he acknowledges. “In Spain there is going to be a certain concentration of some companies and we have to be alert to opportunities,” he underlines. However, it will not be “buying for the sake of buying”, but, if necessary, it must be “synergistic with us” and, in addition, “we can buy at a good price”. “Yes, an opportunity may arise,” he emphasizes, although at this time there are no open negotiations.
Ferrovial and Acciona negotiated their possible merger last summer, but the operation did not bear fruit. A parked process but in the future it is not ruled out that it can be reactivated. José Manuel Entrecanales, president of Acciona, admitted the possibility of corporate movements a few days ago. “When I say there are opportunities, Acciona is one of them,” says Beltrán, “but there are more, I don’t think it’s the only one,” he says. “In the market there are quite a few service companies that may be interested (in selling); I would not put Acciona as the only target,” he abounds.
With a workforce of 25,000 workers, Serveo starts in this new stage with a portfolio of 1,580 million euros at the end of 2021, of which 580 million have an annual horizon. The company invoiced 1,000 million in the last year, a figure that represents an increase of more than 20% compared to 2020 (822 million). The gross operating result (ebitda) was close to 50 million (29 million in 2020), which gives a return of around 5%, “the highest in the sector”. The focus of its activities means that the company has overcome the crisis generated by the pandemic with solvency. “It’s been a disaster overall, but for some of our activities, like hospitals and ambulances, we’ve had to do more work,” he explains.
Beltrán does not reveal the company’s numerical forecasts, but the perspectives point to consolidated growth and in each of the areas. The firm is reviewing its strategic plan after expectations were exceeded in 2021. With the entry of Portobello and the exit of Ferrovial, Serveo will gain “agility in procedures” and in “decision” making, as well as efficiencies in information systems.
Serveo will delve into the four lines of business in which it operates: facility management, which covers nearly 600 million of turnover; industrial, with a main incidence in the automotive industry and incipient in food and metallurgy, adds 200 million; road maintenance, 100 million; and other activities, such as energy efficiency, 100 million more. The company is present in Spain, which brings together more than 90% of the business, and Portugal. It will grow in both, ruling out for now making the leap to new countries. Beltrán believes that service activities in Spain “will continue to grow and there will be opportunities in the future” in all the areas in which it operates. Road maintenance offers potential with the payment for use that the Government intends to establish in the high-capacity network, in industrial it will boost its position with private clients and in energy efficiency it envisions great possibilities, especially with the Next Generation funds.
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