Building bridges Maltauro

BUILDING BRIDGES

In one respect Maltauro fits in perfectly with the Italian tradition of entrepreneurship: it is still owned by the founding family. In its business strategy, however, it seems to have emancipated itself from the typical conservatism of the building sector. Diversification, acquisition and innovation have been the key strategies of the group, and they appear to have been effective as it has been constantly growing at a remarkable pace. CEO Enrico Maltauro explains how that happened.

Since 1921, when the Maltauro building company opened its first plant in Recoaro Terme, near Vicenza in the north-east of Italy, a lot has changed. At that time, Maltauro was just a new building company. Developing as a general contracting company, both in the private sector and in the public sector building roads, hydraulic plants and infrastructures, it has been able to cope with commitments of any kind and dimension. Now the group has a leading position in the construction sector and, through the Maltauro Holding Group controls a number of other companies whose businesses range from extraction activities to technological and environmental services.

The first big diversification to change the profile of an already established building company took place in the early 1960s, when it became one of the first companies in Europe to make prefabricated buildings. That decision was quite well timed, given that the sector was growing fast during those years.

An international supplier

Another successful decision for Maltauro was opening its business up to the international market through Delma SpA in 1976. Over the years the group has worked in Libya, a long established partner, Albania, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and more. Right now it is active internationally on many construction sites in Africa, including a purification plant in Al Abyar, Libya, the construction of Al-Jifara University Complex (Tripoli), a rehabilitation of a road in Fogo Island (Capo Verde Republic) and the rehabilitation of the road leading from Maai Mahiu to Narok, Kenya.

Relying almost exclusively on public infrastructures when working outside Italy, the Maltauro group can boast competitive prices and a good reputation.

But you always “have to find a balance between being cautious and being ambitious,” warns Mr Maltauro. Innovation, for example, is something the company is very keen on investing in, but it has to be careful. No matter how firmly it believes in going ‘green’, it has to be realistic and listen to the demands of the market. A good example of this is the energy-saving technologies that have recently been introduced in the sector. Since most of these technologies are still too expensive, “it’s pretty useless for us to invest in this sector at the moment, because our customers simply don’t request them,” admits Mr Maltauro.

Italy remains the main market for the group. Here too, public infrastructure is its biggest sector, which certainly has the

advantage of not having been particularly badly affected by the global economic uncertainty. Apart from traditional building sites in various regions of the country, such as the construction of the Art Faculty for the University of Trento, the extension of a dam in Sardinia and the renovation of three hangars at the Aviano US military base, it is also active through other group branches in other sectors. Basalti Verona, established in 1927, extracts and supplies basalt. The Maltauro group also sells residential, commercial and educational buildings and units.

Diversification is a long practiced strategy at Maltauro. It has even created a separate company completely dedicated to innovation and technological services: Integra deals with technological plants, maintenance, facility management, investment plans, alternative energy solutions and cogeneration.

Staying competitive

Taking everything into consideration, this looks like an effective combination of strategies. If we take a quick look at a few figures, we can see that the value of production was under €200 million until 2006, then it rose to €500 million in 2009. The number of employees also increased significantly: from under 1000 up to 2005 to over 2800 in 2009.

If you ask Mr Maltauro what it is that makes his company different from the competitors, the answer is “our style, as well as our mission, which is satisfying the needs of our customers while meeting deadlines.” The importance of style is not uncommon among Italians, but Mr Maltauro uses the word in a broad sense. “Having style,” he explains, “means having respect for the world in which we live. This means that the environment and quality are also important for us.”

In addition, Mr Maltauro likes to point out that his group is ‘people-oriented’. By this definition, he means that the safety of his employees is a pivotal concern for his company, as well as satisfying the needs of the customers while meeting deadlines. It looks like we are talking about a stylish ethical bridge here, bringing countries across the Mediterranean together. n