SPAIN

New Deck-T shower column collection.

In the Eurozone, still recovering and with weak private investment, Spain appeared in 2014 as one of the fastest-growing economies (1.4%)and with the best short-term forecasts, despite the uncertainty of key election moments in 2015. Recovery comes mainly from domestic demand, fueled by improved financial conditions and stronger consumer confidence. The recovery trend of investment in construction stands out, although annual growth is still negative. Facing a new drop and pricing pressure in finished residential housing, the house remodeling market is expected to grow — both in terms of bathroom and kitchen refurbishing —, and the hotel and foodservice segments are expected to grow steadily.

New Deck-T shower column collection.

Visit from Prince Philip to the Cevisama (Valencia) Fair, specializing in tiles.

In this environment, the Group’s overall sales in Spain recovered again (12.1%) after six consecutive years of decline due to the collapse of the construction sector. Growth in the bathroom space business is based on defending sanitary ware and bathtub pricing, strong performance in faucets and the increase in categories with lower market share (screens, accessories, furniture and mechanisms). Another area of support for traditional distribution is the effort to package products as single units for large retail stores and the DIY sector, with the aim of keeping the differences between each channel. The ceramic tile business has consolidated its brand repositioning strategy, targeting a premium segment and with a large-format offer, achieving higher growth than the sector as a whole. From an organizational standpoint, the transfer of all production to the plant in Castellón has been successful, and a new Marketing and Design department has also been set up there.

Visit from Prince Philip to the Cevisama (Valencia) Fair, specializing in tiles.

Faucet training day at the plant in Gavà.

Refurbishment of Expo Baño Barcelona. Roca’s showroom in downtown Barcelona was reopened in May after a process of improving product presentation and organization. With the new layout, the products are in the limelight in a connected-space floorplan.

Rock&Rock in tiles. The relaunch of the Rock&Rock collection exemplifies the business expansion strategy: the use of digital printing to customize large-scale formats and the consolidation of Roca as a prestige brand.

New categoryes. Strong performance boosted sales growth in Spain. Some highlights are the new hand-held showers Sensum and Plenum, the Even-T and Deck-T columns, Terran shower trays and Victoria screens.

PORTUGAL

After ruling out a new bailout in May, Portugal managed to return to economic growth (0.9%) thanks to the improvement in private consumption and investment, with a gradual drop in unemployment. The housing market continues to trend downward, albeit less dramatically than in previous years.

Despite the stagnation of construction, the Group maintains its positive trend with an increase in sales both in the domestic market and in export to Portuguese-speaking African countries. The increased demand has led to the commissioning of the new sanitary ware plant in Anadia. Also of note are the development of specific collections for the DIY channel and progress in improving the product mix thanks to intense collaboration activity with customers and architects.

Sanitana’s 35th anniversary. The brand celebrated its anniversary with actions focused on adding value to its comprehensive range of products for the bathroom space and proximity to consumers. Its activity in 2014 is marked by an increase in exports to African and Middle Eastern markets.

ITALY

The situation of political instability and economic downturn again indicate a country in need of structural reforms. Nevertheless, and thanks to the measures implemented in previous years, the Group managed to contain the decline in sales, just short of 4%.

Salone del Mobile in Milan.Laufen launched the new Val by Konstantin Grcic and Ino by Toan Nguyen series. The Cosmic brand was also present.

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK economy posted its highest growth since 2007 (2.6%), thanks to improved conditions in financial and credit markets, and the strength of corporate balance sheets. The construction of new housing grows thanks largely to the “Help to Buy Scheme” government aid program. The Group’s activity again sees an increase of over 12% over the industry’s growth, posting positive performance in all categories. The Ireland division celebrates its first full year of activity with remarkable results.

Hotel projects. Efforts made by the project team achieved the first results in contracts with hotel chains like Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hilton and Marriott, as well as projects in other European and Asian markets.

FRANCE

The stagnation of the French economy in 2014 (0.4%), largely because of the impact of political instability in the business, is coupled with an increase in unemployment. The construction sector fell by 3% and new housing reached its lowest figure of the past 17 years. The Group has worked to minimize the impact of the unfavorable environment by committing to the home remodelling market, developing the DIY channel and collaborating with the key distributors.

Roca bathrooms, at the Eiffel Tower. Roca has manufactured a special series of the Diverta sink, Meridian-N toilet and Site urinal in Venetian red for the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in one of the most significant projects for the Group in 2014.

MOROCCO

With a slower-than-expected growth (2.9%), political stability slows the development of previously announced structural reforms and institutional projects. The sluggishness also affects the construction market, where the main developers have suffered significant hits in the stock market. Nevertheless, the Group managed to increase turnover, with growth in all product categories.

Settat, at full capacity. Domestic demand and export projects (UK and African markets) pushed the Settat plant to reach full capacity, at an annual output of 2.3 million pieces in the first year of continuous work since 2007.

EGYPT

Growth seems to stabilize in Egypt (2.2%) and trust is up after the election of a new government, the thrust of huge infrastructure projects (the Suez Canal expansion and the new capital) and the announcement of structural reforms to reduce unemployment and poverty. The Group consolidates its position in the domestic market with a 25% increase in the number of sanitary ware units and significant growth in faucets and acrylic bathtubs. The plants in the country also reach 100% capacity and high productivity rates.

Gravena gains share. The local brand managed to gain more market share and becomes the second-ranking brand in the sector. The comprehensive offer to distributors also translated into an increase in sales of accessories and acrylic bathtubs.

MIDDLE EAST

New increase in Group sales in the region thanks to the recovery in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, offsetting the fall in Yemen, Iraq and Palestine because of political instability. The opening of seven new showrooms in collaboration with distributors expands the number of Group showrooms to 32 in the region.