On March 30, the Portuguese Minister of Economy and Maritime Affairs, António Costa Silva, visited ASCENZA's manufacturing facilities in Setúbal, highlighting the company as an "example of innovation and strong growth".
Accompanied by the CEO and CFO of ROVENSA, Eric van Innis and Nuno Loureiro, respectively, and by the COO of ASCENZA, João Martins, António Costa Silva visited the factory and the laboratory units for waste, and also the microbiology and cellular-biology units.
During the visit several projects were presented, which reinforce ASCENZA's positioning in the sphere of innovation:
- TEC4Green - focusing on the circularity of the agro-industrial value chain for the development of innovative products and resources for digital farming, precision agriculture, agronomic decarbonisation and green energy, this project, under the PRR1, has a global investment of €60 million and brings together a consortium of 18 entities.
- Gas Zero 2026 - A project that focuses on decarbonisation, with the goal for 2026 of zero gas, thus contributing to Net Zero in 2050.
- OCEAN ALIVE - aims to conserve the prairies of the Sado estuary by protecting and enhancing biodiversity and increasing carbon capture.
The Minister of Economy and Maritime Affairs also highlighted the fact that ASCENZA "is the only company in this sector with an industry in Portugal and one of the top 5 in its segment in southern Europe", as well as the differentiation of its human resources, which "being more than 50% highly qualified, can only contribute to a very promising future".
ASCENZA nowadays has a turnover of €192M and exports 80% of its production to 15 countries in Europe, Maghreb and South America, recording an EBITDA of 19% and investing 9% of turnover in R&D.
The company also aims to align with the objectives of the Green Deal and Farm to Fork, by renewing its product portfolio, industrial requalification, a new collaborative-based business paradigm, the circular economy and a global vision of sustainability.
1 PRR - The Recovery and Resilience Plan is a Portuguese programme, which aims to implement a set of reforms and investments to restore sustained economic growth after the pandemic.
