BarcelonaAt a time when there seems to be an avalanche of losses from large Catalan family businesses, a great exception emerges. It is Mango, the textile empire founded by the late Isak Andic and chaired and managed by Toni Ruiz. When asked if they plan to buy or go public, he is very clear: "No and no. We are not considering acquisitions. One buys when one does not know how to develop their business. We have many opportunities and markets to grow." And about the stock market, he is even more direct: "I have many friends who are CEOs and they don't talk to me about clients or business, but about worrying about quarterly reports, bonuses..." He doesn't need to add much more.
During a conversation organized by the Círculo Ecuestre of Barcelona, this executive, who is highly trusted by the founder and holds 5% of the capital, assured that Mango's interests are business, clients, and "roots in Barcelona and Catalonia." All to project from here a group with a presence in more than 120 countries, 3,000 points of sale and 2,700 factories, sales that last year were 3,800 million euros and a profit of 242 million, and which generates quality employment at the origin.
He explained that they are used to adapting, as when in 2016 they started to have losses, with a debt of around 620 million euros, sales of 2,000 million, and an operating result of 70 million. But they rebounded from 2019 with the return of profits. And, suddenly, the pandemic came in 2020, when he was appointed CEO (he had been the company's financial director since 2015 and general manager since 2018), and he recalls: "From home, my first signature was an ERTO (temporary layoff scheme)." But they overcame it again with an operating result that has multiplied by 10 since then and sales that will reach 4,000 million this year.
Ruiz, together with Andic, built a company governance structure that has very quickly overcome such a strong blow as the sudden disappearance of its creator. Accustomed to adapting and working in a multitude of countries and regulations while maintaining their roots in the company's place of origin, Ruiz believes that "it is everyone's responsibility" to ensure that business projects born here move forward. It is, therefore, not only a responsibility of the administrations, which also, but of the business owners themselves.
