In the year in which it celebrates 120 years of activity, the company based in the district of Aveiro and the Metropolitan Area of Porto begins a “restructuring process” justified by the failures that had a “direct impact on the turnover of the Cifial group” .
According to a source from the unit located in Rio Meão, the dismissal was communicated this Monday to the firm’s management team by its general director, Luís Rodrigues, who stated: “This restructuring is a direct consequence of the drop in sales felt in 2023 and to which is added a first quarter of 2024 well below expectations, with negative consequences for the company’s results, reversing the previous growth trend”.
In 2023, Cifial recorded a turnover of 13 million euros, which was below the 16.6 million in the previous year.
The foreign market absorbed 80% of the 2023 production and, of all the material exported, 20% was sent to the United Kingdom and 70% to the United States of America, but in both destinations the brand suffered drops in demand.
Luís Rodrigues notes, however, that the dismissal of the 35 employees is not the only measure planned to combat the problem. “Together with a set of initiatives aimed at reducing costs and increasing productivity, these decisions will be decisive in ensuring a reversal of the current situation and thus ensuring greater future competitiveness”, he explains.
With the current 168 workers distributed across the metalworking industry, in Rio Meão, and the company’s foreign branch, in the United Kingdom, Cifial argues that “the actions now implemented aim to strengthen the group, providing it with the necessary capacity to regain leadership in the national market and solidify its position as a national brand of reference in bath solutions, expanding the base of its portfolio”.
In 2019, when it employed more than 300 people, Cifial became part of the multinational group that, headed by Kinlong Hardware Products, is considered the leader in the construction equipment market. Representing a total industrial area of around 600 thousand square meters, this group currently employs around 13 thousand people and operates in more than 100 countries.
The current collective dismissal at Cifial joins others in recent years: in 2021 the Portuguese company laid off 13 workers, which the sector’s union at the time attributed to a “transition period” following the covid-19 pandemic, and in 2022 the firm terminated 41 employees, due to what it then classified as “the unsustainable” 400% increase in gas costs”
