Annual Report 2016

Friday, June 23, 2017

During 2016, as in previous years, Ascendum operated in an extremely challenging context – geopolitical, macroeconomic and foreign currency – fact that did not prevent the company from exceeding its target of 860 million euros in turnover and improving its overall solvency ratios – Net Debt/EBITDA below 2.0x – and also reducing its debt by 14%, despite strong investment in growth as it is still financially digesting the acquisitions made since 2010.

In 2016, Ascendum continued the strategy of consolidating its current operations and strengthening its financial position, initiated in 2014, focusing its efforts on optimizing internal processes and on creating common management and communication tools capable of ensuring greater flexibility in its business in the different geographic platforms and fostering sharing of information and best practices. 2016 was also marked by an increased investment in the Ascendum brand at global level, with the development and implementation of a brand uniformity strategy together with a strong focus on the Group’s digital engagement.