- The company Corporación de Alsasua has submitted the pre-competition of creditors and, according to a consultant's report, "the staff is too much". A contract with Volvo was terminated in early July and the company has serious financing needs. The Minister for Industry of Navarra, Mikel Irujo, appeared in Parliament to give explanations.
Sunsunsundegui is not at its best in recent years, but this serious situation has now become apparent and the Minister for Industry of the Government of Navarra, Mikel Irujo, has acknowledged: "Sunsunsundegui is in a very delicate situation," he said in the Parliament of Navarra, in response to questions from UPN and pp.
To confirm this, the counselor has relied on a report from the consultant KPMG, according to Diario de Noticias. In his view, "the workforce needs to be reduced to make the company more profitable". Today more than 300 people are working in the area and is one of the largest companies in Sakana.
The report notes that Sunsunsundegui has a financial debt of EUR 48.8 million and that the hole in which the company is located is "high", could be left unliquidated in September.
The company has opened negotiations with the creditors and Irujo has considered that by 30 September it will be key to reach an agreement with the financial institutions and Volvo to refinance the debt.
What does Volvo say?
Volvo is the main customer of Sunsunsundegui and a project for the construction of high-end buses was suspended in early July. This has been a huge blow to the company and the workers of Alsasua, who have been caught up. However, according to Irujo, the Volvo "has not dismantled any contract, there are no less buses than Ibero has. What Volvo is doing is modifying the contract to leave those bus models."
Irujo: "Volvo hasn't dismantled any contracts, there are no less buses. What Volvo is doing is modifying the contract to assign those bus models"
In his opinion, Volvo's "business plan" "follows" and has also given a figure: Your portfolio for 2025 allows you to bill EUR 80 million: "This, in itself, exceeds the company's current productive capacity," he added.
Confidence interval
News about Sunsunsundegui has been constant in recent months. Among them, the director and the board of directors of Ignacio Murillo changed from one day to the next and Sodena, which currently has a part of the company in this society of the Government of Navarra, destined an item of 6 million euros to improve the financial situation, approved by the Parliament of Navarra. The intention of the new management board is that production should go from one bus to two buses a day.
Announcing that Volvo would not make its new models in Alsasua, CCOO staff delegates called for an investigation into what has happened to the public money it gave to the company. But UGT, LAB and ELA, which are the majority in the works council, insisted that a margin of confidence should be given to the new direction.
This margin, now, with the KPMG report in hand and with the deadline for reaching an agreement with creditors, is gradually being reduced.