It was not long, though, before Spain again plunged into a new
crisis in 1992. Sales plummeted by 50 percent in a single year. “Already we had decided that the factory had to focus on higher added value screws and specials,” says Ramón. “For distribution we concentrated on developing a deep range of screws from diameter 2 to 6 especially for metal applications.” Subsequently CELO added woodscrews and other metric screws. At the same time the company tried to sell to other countries. “We found it really difficult. By the 1990s the cards in Europe were already played. When Spain joined the EU our currency was very high making exports difficult. We were up against big companies, especially from Germany and Italy, strongly established in the markets. We could not compete against imports from Taiwan and we did not, then, have enough added value products to compete against the other Europeans.” CELO concentrated on the Spanish market. “The second half
of the 90s were really good,” says Ramón. “In 2001 we had a small dip but otherwise the company continued to grow at an average 14 percent annually right through to 2007.” Dependency on the domestic market, though, was dangerous. “By 1995 you could see many large international companies that settled in Spain in the 70s and 80s closing down, moving away to Eastern Europe and China.” A crippling 50 percent inheritance tax shattered Spanish family businesses, many selling to realise cash. During the 1990s CELO sustained growth but sales to the
domestic electronics market began haemorrhaging. The saving grace was explosive growth in the Spanish construction sector. “In 2000 we decided to buy another company supplying the sector,” says Ramón Ceravalls. “It was not truthfully a strategic
decision in that CELO’s shareholders already owned half the shares and the other owner, a friend of my father, wanted to retire.” Nevertheless it was a market leader in the right sector, with very good products and an excellent reputation. It helped CELO to diversify and move more strongly into and develop clamps, anchors and chemicals. It also required substantial investment having stagnated in the pre-sale period. “We had to turn Apolo round, investing in new products, in logistics, new ERP, and a completely new sales concept.” Results began to come through in 2003. Meantime,
CELO’s electronic screws business felt a major shock when Hewlett Packard announced it was moving production to Hungary. Such was HP’s importance to CELO, “it was an easy decision,” says Ramón. “You’re going to Hungary: we are coming too. This is how we started our logistic platform in Hungary”. The body blow, though, came in 2005 when, “Hewlett Packard, still our major customer, decided to move to Asia. Then we had no response.” By 2005 hard truths had to be faced. Except for the
“ Dependency on the domestic market, though, was dangerous.”
delocalisation of HP, everything looked to be going well, annual
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