WOOL, MATTRESSES AND ESCAPES ARE "OLD" INVESTMENTS IN THE NEW YEAR

At the first Council of Ministers of the electoral year of 2019, the Government approved State incentives to three industrial projects already announced, advanced or completed in the districts of Aveiro and Bragança.

Concentrate the manufacture of mattresses in a single industrial unit and increase the productive capacity; build a mineral wood factory with increasing demand in the construction sector for its thermal and acoustic insulation properties; and incorporate new and cleaner technologies in the production of escapes for vehicles.

With a joint eligible investment of nearly 66 million euros and a promise of 165 new jobs, these are the latest industrial projects to receive tax incentives. The political approval of the support arrived Thursday, January 3, at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, although much of the work is already concluded or about to end on the ground.

The most discrete investment was made in the Industrial Zone of Bustos, Oliveira do Bairro, where Volcalis already started to produce mineral wood about a month ago, Paulo Tavares, the commercial responsible, confirmed to Negócios. It is expected that 65 jobs will be created by 2020, of which more than two dozen "highly qualified”.

Co-financed by Compete 2020 – from the 16 million euros eligible resulted a FEDER incentive of eight million – this is the new business area of the Preceram Group, with headquarters in Portugal and also in Águeda and Figueira da Foz, where it already produced other products for the construction, such as ceramic brick, clays or plaster boards.

With the end scheduled for April, the investment of 15 million (half eligible for supports) to concentrate in Santa Maria da Feira the production of Molaflex, currently spread by S. João da Madeira and Oliveira de Azeméis, was the subject of an application "already signed and approved by the AICEP on March 23, 2018”, confirmed Victor Marinheiro, the general director of Negócios, adding that the value of the tax incentive is around 30%. 

Held by the Flex Group, of Spanish capital, the northern company, which earned 35 million euros in 2018 and exports 70% of its production to several European and African countries, predicts by 2021 a hundred of new jobs and "grow more than 50%” compared to the current factory capacity of 1.400 mattresses a day. 

Finally, the beginning of this electoral year, it got in the accounts of the Socialist Executive a "addition to the fiscal contract” with Faurecia, announced in 2016, in order to extend for 12 months, the investment of 41.5 million in the factory in Bragança, where the French multinational produces escapes for cars from jaguar, Nissan or Renault. 

New construction projects to furniture

Get to know the last three projects to officially initiate "tax incentive investment contracts" with the Portuguese state.

The Preceram group, the largest ceramic brick producer in the country, has added mineral wool to its construction articles portfolio, with the expectation of exporting more than 65% of the production of Volcalis, a company incorporated in Oliveira do Bairro.

The historic Molaflex, founded in 1951 by Rui Moreira, the father of the current mayor of Porto, will move this year from S. João da Madeira and Oliveira de Azeméis to the neighboring municipality of Feira. The investment totals 15 million and the new factory predicts to increase the daily production of mattresses.

The investment support of 41.5 million of the multinational Faurecia in Bragança, where it produces escapes for cars and is the largest employer, is extended by one year. It was announced in 2016 under a plan "to incorporate new production technologies, more flexible and efficient, that will contribute to have more environmentally friendly vehicles."