In 2016, Saba brought to a close a period in which, after the divestment of its logistics parks, it had focused wholly on the car park business, underpinned by the driving forces that have pushed the company forward since its inception: operational efficiency, commercial and technological transformation, and growth. All of this with customer service quality as the constant driving factor. Between 2011 and 2016, Saba carried out successive divestment operations in logistics parks, thus maximising the value of this business line and helping to finance the growth of the car park business, with investments totalling more than €580 million.

If 2011 was marked by the start of the re-founding project and 2016 saw the culmination of a first cycle, as of 2017 we are now talking about a totally transformed company, with 375 car parks, 85% more than in 2011, and 208,000 car park spaces, 53% more than in 2011, and a workforce of 1,500 people.

In 2017, Saba consolidated its internal transformation, with a sustained increase in the Group’s operating efficiency, which moreover we achieved in an initial context of deep economic crisis. This has enabled the company to take on an increase in assets simultaneously with increased profitability in terms of EBITDA on income of 47%, the highest of any company its sector, thanks to a combination of revenue management, cost reduction and new business. A figure that will continue to grow in the future.

It has been achieved thanks to the decisive implementation of technological initiatives, in areas of energy efficiency and commercial restructuring that has led to a significant change in business operations, incorporating the management of the business and the workforce with a more commercial focus. In this regard, the Customer service and Control Centre (CCC) is a key element, establishing remote management as a solid option in the exploitation of the network and, in addition, enhancing its role as a call centre with a commercial vocation as part of its continual drive for improved service quality.

From an external perspective, this transformation derives from the integration of the infrastructures managed by Saba into the Smart Cities ecosystem, while also providing a high quality service based on our responsibility as a leading operator of mobility services. Saba is involved in building Smart Cities and works towards a model of sustainable, equitable and efficient urban mobility, in which the car park is a socially aware and environmentally friendly service hub integrated into the mobility policy of the city.

A fully transformed company that maintains growth as a top priority and which, both in 2017 and so far in 2018, has completed new operations in all the countries where it is present, reinforcing its position as a leading operator. Operations in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Chile, which have incorporated more than 14,500 new car park spaces in the network as a whole.

We have continued to work constantly to implement best practices in Corporate Governance and, in this regard, in 2017 the Saba’s Board of Directors approved the Crime Prevention Handbook. It is the company’s responsibility to now ensure that it establishes the appropriate means of coordination to distribute and ensure awareness of the Handbook in countries where it operates, having already implemented it in Portugal. Saba has also joined ASCOM, the Spanish Compliance Association.

We will continue to carry out our activity within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, specifically those that set the guidelines for cities, innovation, infrastructures and the environment. And on this last point, once again last year we carried out improvements to reduce the impact of our activity on climate change, with a 6.5% reduction in electricity consumption compared to 2016. An endeavour that has borne fruit in our ISO 50001 Energy Management Certification, which Saba is the first company in its sector to obtain.

Saba will continue on its path towards sustainability and corporate responsibility and will be a fully engaged participant in the progress of society and the cities where it is present, with agreements with institutions that reflect our environmental objectives, such as the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation. Also, with agreements with entities involved in the protection of disadvantaged groups, as is the case of the Pere Tarrés Foundation or the Envera Group; and in projects such as the SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona or the new Advanced Neonatology Centre of the Vall d’Hebron hospital; in addition to labour integration programmes, such as the one signed with Incorpora, part of the Welfare Projects of La Caixa.

Finally, I would like to highlight and emphasize the commitment and dedication of the management team and all the Group’s collaborators, who are contributing to the transformation of Saba and who maintain the will of placing the company as an international first-tier reference. We have this commitment of the team. Also, with renewed tools, solid economic foundations and, above all, hope and ambition to keep moving forward.