The Mondragon Corporation achieved sales of €11.05bn in 2023, an increase of 5.1% on the previous year.
Despite a challenging environment, Mondragon reported positive results for 2023, with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) rising 34.7% to €1.48bn, and net profit up 33,85% to €593m. The corporation also invested €369m in 2023, 6.4% more than in the previous year.
Co-op president Iñigo Ucín described its performance as “positive” adding that this had been achieved “in a context of uncertainty, conditioned by several international conflicts and their consequences on the markets”.
In the distribution sector, Eroski had sales of 5.72bn (+6.3%) and a net profit of €109m (+70%). Its Erkop agri-food co-ops had a turnover of €290m and a joint net profit of €6.4m.
The finance division also performed well, with Laboral Kutxa obtaining a net profit of €222m (+48%).
Meanwhile, LagunAro, a welfare protection scheme for Mondragon co-operative members, saw a +7.94% return on its portfolio.
Mondragon’s industrial co-operatives, which employed an average workforce of 27,487 people, ended 2023 with a total aggregate turnover of €5.03bn (+3.9%) and a net profit of €256m.
Made up of 240 businesses, 81 of which are co-operatives, the corporation has a combined workforce of 70,500 employees.
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Industrial employment increased by 429 workers within Mondragon’s businesses in its Basque homeland but fell by fell by 2.6% to 9,854 people across subsidiaries set up in other countries.
Despite this reduction in overseas employment, the corporation confirmed plans to continue its internationalisation. Around 75% of sales from the industrial division were made in foreign markets with Mondragon’s foreign 104 production plants employing 9,854 workers.
Ucin predicts a strong performance for 2024 as well, with sales up by 4.4% within the first four months of the year, compared to 2023.
The corporation holds its annual congress on 17 July at Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, where 650 delegates representing co-op members are expected. The congress will be the last to be run by Ucin, who is retiring after eight years as the head of president of the General Council of the Corporation.
He will be replaced by Pello Rodríguez who will present the corporation’s roadmap 2025-2028, a document drawn up jointly with the co-operatives and divisions which will need to be approved by the congress.
