Wirex plans building new plant until 2012
Valor Econômico
Wirex, the only company with 100% of national capital among the four largest suppliers of power cables that operate in the country, has just concluded a round of investments of US$ 10 million and it is already working on a new round of investments, which should involve the construction of at least one more plant and the use of another US$ 10 million between 2011 and 2012. In accordance with the commercial officer of Wirex, Fernando Berardo, the investment plan will be drawn after the "recapitalization" of the company. The private corporation, which is focused on the industrial market since 2000, is controlled by investment funds and it disputes a market estimated at nearly 150 thousand tons a year, considering only copper cables, with multinationals such as Prysmian, Nexans and Phelps Dodge.
In 2008, the company earned US$ 200 million, and, last year, it saw its sales fall to US$ 150 million due to the financial crisis and suspension of projects in the areas of oil, mining and infrastructure. During the period, it chose to freeze the plan of doubling the productive capacity of medium-voltage cables, which eventually took place in the first quarter of 2010, with the implementation of the fourth catenary machine and investments of nearly US$ 5 million. With the investment, the company also entered the segment of 69 Kv cables.
For this year, says Berardo, the expectation is that the earnings turn around US$ 170 million. Every month, it is necessary to buy 700 tons of copper from Chile and Peru, and 300 tons of aluminum from suppliers in Brazil and in Argentina, to feed the production lines of Wirex - the company has a plant in Santa Branca (SP), an operational unit in Quatis (RJ) and commercial offices in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Rio de Janeiro.
On the new cycle of investment, the officer explains the company is aiming at two markets: power transmission and standardized cables (used in civil construction). "According to the plan, we may enlarge the plant of Santa Branca for the former and build a new unit to produce standardized cables", he says. On the market of cables for civil construction, emphasizes Berardo, the proposal is to work with products of greater value instead of the segment of basic cables, which has more than 100 suppliers in the country. "We want, for instance, to offer Vale a full range of cables". The mining company and Petrobras are among the biggest clients of the company.