BERETTA explained the reasons that led to the record turnover of 2022, which stood at a total value of over 310 million euros. In their speeches, the FGB President, the General Manager Carlo Ferlito and the Innovation Project Manager Carlo Gussalli Beretta focused on the challenges that have characterized the year just ended, the recent corporate acquisitions, the investments undertaken and those planned for the future. A clear focus emerged on the issues of Industry 4.0 and, more generally, on a series of digital projects that Beretta has at heart, essential to look to a prosperous and up-to-date future, while always maintaining the DNA that has distinguished Beretta for almost 500 years.
This is the speech of President Franco Gussalli Beretta:
“2022 will be remembered and celebrated in the centuries-old history of our company as the year in which we reached and exceeded 300 million in turnover: a goal never reached before. Current figures attest to a value that exceeds 310 million. These are extremely important numbers achieved thanks to our core business that focuses on the civil and sports market, as demonstrated by the 50% increase in the main European markets. I want to underline how much it has performed the national civil market, reaching record figures for a turnover that exceeds 21M. In this record year, I would like to highlight the important double-digit growth trend recorded by the clothing and accessories and spare parts division and Proshop (respectively + 18% for clothing, + 30% for accessories and + 20% for spare parts and Proshop), numbers that reward the quality and high technology of our products and underline the importance of assistance and the “after market”.
We are continuing to expand our network in order to get closer to the end customer in an increasingly widespread way. This is thanks to a greater focus and penetration of the markets through a direct structure that allows us to arrive directly in the armories and distribution chains. This growth is the result of our continuous tension in that process of internationalization that started the eleventh generation of my family represented by Giuseppe Antonio and his son Pietro Beretta. In the wake of this path undertaken more than a century ago, we continue to work to open new markets.
A complicated year, 2022. Like all Italian families and companies, we at Fabbrica d’Armi have had to face the crisis and the related energy price increases. One number above all provides an exhaustive and clear picture of what we had to face: the cost of production rose to € 9.5M compared to € 2.8M in the previous year. Going more specifically, in 2022 we spent € 8.8M on energy (if we consider the € 700k “saved” thanks to the tax credit reliefs). Of these 9.5M, the Page 2 electricity bill accounted for 7.5M (double compared to 2021, while gas “only” for € 2M (up three times). In 2021, 2.8 million were spent on energy bills. A growth incidence of about 400%! Not only energy price increases, because the increase in the cost of raw materials has risen by 50%. All this has also led to an increase in the cost of suppliers, with an average increase of 7%. To face this unsustainable growth we have put on track the 10×10% project which, thanks to a series of actions and small gestures, will allow us to save 10 percent of the energy consumed which, in the final balance, is worth several hundred thousand euros per year.
Fabbrica d’Armi never stops evolving: in 2022 we made 16M€ of investments, of which 9.5M€ in the latest generation of industrial machinery and 2.5M in digital projects. The engineer Carlo Ferlito will then go into detail, but I just want to tell you that even in 2023 we will continue in this direction having allocated € 13M. Still in the field of investments, we are continuing to carry out projects related to Industry 4.0 and in particular to the development of tools for predictive maintenance which, as our General Manager will articulate, will allow us to make the most of the technical availability of our machinery.
We will remember 2022 for the launch of new products, in particular for the BRX1 that allows Beretta to enter a new market segment such as that of the Big Game. This rifle has already been distributed in over 30 countries with as many as 15,000 pcs sold, without considering the USA where it will be launched during 2023. As you already know and as you have already written in recent months, over the last year Beretta Holding has completed a very important strategic transaction with the acquisition of Ruag Ammotec. In this way, the group completes its product range, thus offering the enthusiast a complete ecosystem. Let’s think of a hunter who, looking towards the Beretta Group’s offer, will be able to find from the weapon to the cartridge, from the optics to the technical garment.
By maintaining the different brands and the traditional nature of the acquired companies, we will be able to further acquire new market shares. Before passing on a word to Mr. Ferlito I want to talk about the most important resource for the Company, the real and essential added value: human capital. For this reason, at the end of 2022 we wanted to reward and recognize an extraordinary amount of 1,000 euros to be used on the Pellegrini welfare platform in addition to a fuel voucher of € 200. I believe this should be considered as a first concrete step towards the elimination of the tax wedge. The important results obtained in the last 12 months and that we are telling you today are also the result of the constructive climate regarding corporate relations”.
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