Corticeira Amorim
Encyclopedia
Corticeira Amorim S.G.P.S., S.A.
S.A. (corporation)
S.A. designates a particular type of corporation in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law. It originated in Spain during the 16th century. Depending on language, the abbreviation stands for various phrases meaning anonymous society, anonymous company, anonymous partnership, or...

, is a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 subholding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 belonging to the Amorim Group and claims to be the world leader in the cork
Cork (material)
Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...

 industry for over 130 years, with operations in hundreds of countries all over the world. Corticeira Amorim S.G.P.S., S.A. is responsible for the management of 70 companies engaged in the cork manufacture, research, development, promotion and sale of products and new solutions for the cork industry. António Rios de Amorim is the company’s Chairman and CEO. Organized in five Business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 Units – Raw-Materials, Cork Stoppers, Floor & Wall Coverings, Composite Cork and Insulation Cork - Corticeira Amorim sells an array of products largely to such industries as the aeronautical, construction and wine-producing industries; a result of the investment made in R&D. Amorim's holding company is listed on the Euronext Lisbon
Euronext Lisbon
Euronext Lisbon is a stock exchange in Lisbon, Portugal. It belongs to the NYSE Euronext group, the first global stock exchange.Euronext Lisbon trades equities, public and private bonds, participation bonds, warrants, corporate warrants, investment trust units, and exchange traded funds...

 stock exchange.

The Company

The company’s share capital
Share capital
Share capital or issued capital or capital stock refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash or an equivalent item of capital value...

 is € 133 million. In 2007, Corticeira Amorim registered a positive growth of 2.5% compared to 2006, with a turnover of € 453.8 million. Amorim performed fairly well in 2007 with operating profit increasing from € 20.1 million to € 23.2 million.

Corticeira Amorim is the world’s leading producer of natural cork wine closures, with over 3 billion units produced annually. About 80% of its cork products are manufactured in the Iberian Peninsula. In 2007, the total workforce of Corticeira Amorim was 3795; the company provided training programmes to its employees, achieving a total of 54,428 hours of training (an average of 14.3 hours per worker).

The cork industry

Portugal is the world’s top producer of cork and has the largest cork forest
Forests of the Iberian Peninsula
The woodlands of the Iberian Peninsula are distinct ecosystems on the Iberian Peninsula, spanning mainly Spain and Portugal. Although the various regions are each characterized by distinct vegetation, there are some similarities across the peninsula....

 in the world. Cork products account for 2.3 percent of the total Portuguese exports. Approximately 17,000 people are employed in the country’s cork manufacturing industries, which process around 70 percent of the world’s cork. 90 percent of natural cork products manufactured in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 are sold for export.

Sustainability

In addition to processing a 100% natural and recyclable product, by harvesting cork bark without cutting down trees, the company actually contributes to the preservation and viability of the cork oak
Cork Oak
Quercus suber, commonly called the Cork Oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.It grows to up to 20 m,...

 forests, both in Portugal and abroad. The cork oak is a tree species native to Portugal and plays an important role in retaining CO2
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

, in preserving biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

 and in combating desertification
Desertification
Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...

.

Corticeira Amorim has issued its first Sustainability Report in 2007, the first of its kind in the cork industry. The report was distinguished by Corporate Register as one of the best three world’s sustainability reports in the Openness & Honesty category.

History

The origin of Corticeira Amorim dates back to 1870 when a factory for the manufacture of natural cork stoppers for Port wine
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...

 bottling was established. Amorim & Irmãos, a cork manufacturing company incorporated in 1922, was the first member company under the current Corticeira Amorim, SGPS, S.A. umbrella of companies.

In March 2001 António Rios de Amorim succeeded his uncle Américo Amorim
Americo Amorim
Américo Ferreira Amorim is a Portuguese entrepreneur, the third of four sons of Américo Alves Amorim. He was ranked by Forbes as the 212th richest person in the world in 2010....

 as CEO of Corticeira Amorim, SGPS, S.A.

The Department for the Development of New Applications for Cork and Cork Products was established in 2004 with a view to developing and designing new cork solutions as well as strengthening knowledge exchange among the different business units.
Investment in R&D was again emphasized in 2007 when the creation of a new across-the-board support business unit designed to meet the innovation challenge was announced: Amorim Cork Research.

See also

  • PSI-20
    PSI-20
    The PSI-20 is a benchmark stock market index of companies that trade on Euronext Lisbon, the main stock exchange of Portugal. The index tracks the prices of the twenty listings with the largest market capitalisation and share turnover in the PSI Geral, the general stock market of the Lisbon exchange...

  • APCOR
    APCOR
    Associação Portuguesa da Cortiça is the Portuguese Cork Association, a consortium of cork growers and manufacturers. It was founded in 1956 and is based in the town of Santa Maria de Lamas in northern Portugal...

    , Portuguese Cork Association
  • Save Miguel
    Save Miguel
    Save Miguel is an international campaign starring Hollywood actor Rob Schneider and developed by Corticeira Amorim to defend natural cork and to appeal to the protection and preservation of cork oak forests....

  • Sustainability
    Sustainability
    Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

  • Cork (material)
    Cork (material)
    Cork is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is harvested for commercial use primarily from Quercus suber , which is endemic to southwest Europe and northwest Africa...

  • Cork oak
    Cork Oak
    Quercus suber, commonly called the Cork Oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.It grows to up to 20 m,...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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