Villarreal, Spain, January 24--Spanish ceramic floor and wall tile manufacturer Porcelanosa, which also produces a range of other kitchen and bathroom fittings, is to complement the production of top-of-the-range white-paste tiles by setting up a new subsidiary which will specialize in the production of bottom-of-the-range red-paste tiles, in order to be able to meet growing demand for this product from property developers.
The new subsidiary will be called Ceranco. The group distributes its products under seven other banners, each of them produced by a different subsidiary of the same name: Porcelanosa, Noken, Gamadecor, Butech, Venic, L'Antic Colonial and System-Pool. Ceranco will not sell its products through the group's own shops, but directly to the property developers.
Thanks to the new subsidiary, Porcelanosa will be able to increase production by 23 per cent to some 73,700 square metres of tiles a day. The group expects turnover to total 60m euros this year. The sales figure stood at 706.6m euros in 2003 and is expected to have recorded an increase of 10 per cent last year.
