Terre Cevico consolidates from a consortium to a first level cooperative. Franco Donati the new president

As per the indications of the Shareholders' Assembly of last October 8th, this morning (January 2nd), the renewed Board of Directors appointed Franco Donati as president of Terre Cevico . Since 1 January 2024, the Romagna cooperative group has in fact officially formalized the change in its statutory and organizational structure, transforming itself from a consortium to a first- level cooperative through the incorporation of Le Romagnole, Romagnole Due, Winex, Due Tigli, Enoica and Rocche Malatestiane .

The new Board of Directors, in addition to Franco Donati, is made up of Alberto Asioli, Emanuele Babini, Lino Bacchilega, Flavio Cattani, Fabio Foschi, Marco Lanzoni, Marco Nannetti, Gianni Raffoni, Valter Raspanti, Daniela Ravaglia, Gregorio Vecchi. Lino Bacchilega was appointed Vice President while Paolo Galassi was confirmed as General Management and Linda Faggioli as Administrative and Financial Management.

A project that has been worked on for over two years which combines the identity of the large business system with the strategic choice of acquiring the entire wine supply chain internally, from the vineyard to the bottle, bringing the role of the winemaker partner back to the centre .

An industrial plan and a control and efficiency system for the entire wine production chain were thought of, then continuing with technological investments, innovation, high quality standards of the products with a view to continuous improvement compared to a market in constant evolution. A historic change that focuses on the cornerstones of cooperative principles and on the theme of authentic sustainability and which must be interpreted not only as a necessary objective, but as a great opportunity.

Franco Donati , born in 1963, has been president of the Le Romagnole cooperative since 2020 with its 1037 members distributed throughout the Ravenna area. Vice president of Terre Cevico since the same year, he is a professional winemaker with a long-standing family tradition in Bagnacavallo (Ra). From today he is the new president of the group .

Marco Nannetti , confirmed as director of the new Board of Directors, underlines how " Seven companies that have shared the simplification of their group structure to a single first degree cooperative, to a single shareholders' meeting, to a single Board of Directors. A complete, compact, coordinated wine supply chain with the role of the producer partner further protagonist. I am proud to have stimulated and contributed in these six years to achieving this result and together with Franco Donati and the entire new Board of Directors we will work responsibly to guarantee our members remunerations that are always competitive with the market".

Franco Donati , as new President, highlights that "For Le Romagnole it is an important and historic step which sees in the integration of the cooperative with its own consortium the relaunch of the role of the members directly towards those aspects that determine success on the market. The wine-growing member is truly the protagonist of the change and wants to be an active part of it. In world scenarios that are continually and rapidly changing, it is important to govern change and possibly not undergo it. I am taking on the presidency of a leading cooperative enterprise in Italy and in the world and I believe that the new Board of Directors will immediately have to face intense work focused on protecting the members' income and valorising our two main grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Sangiovese" .

The numbers of Terre Cevico

For Terre Cevico these have been important years of growth as highlighted by the group's sustainability report which can be consulted on the website www.terrecevico.com. It is positioned for the 2022/23 year with an aggregate turnover of 217.2 million euros (group companies and basic cooperatives) with a growth of 14.5% compared to the previous year which closed with 189.6 million euros. Cevico's consolidated turnover also grew, reaching 196.7 million euros, an increase of 17.1% compared to the previous year (167.9 million euros). Above all , exports grew, rising to 86 million euros, recording 18% on the previous year (72.9 million). For the financial year ending 7/31/2023, exports accounted for 43% of the group's revenues and placed Cevico in third place among the best-performing Italian companies in terms of increase in turnover. A commercial presence in 69 nations with leadership in some areas such as China and Japan: in the last six years there is talk of a doubling of exports , with figures ranging from 42.9 in the 2017/18 financial year to 85.9 million (100% ). The top three foreign markets for bottled wine include Japan (5 million euros), China (2.23 million) and Russia (2.2 million). Regarding the Italian channel, the market in large-scale retail trade grew in value with 48.8 million euros (2.9%) and in the Horeca channel which is worth 12 million euros (25%). Again with regard to the data of the last financial year , the net profit was 438.5 thousand euros , the aggregate net worth reached 86.9 million euros , while the surplus value for the shareholders - i.e. the value originating from the difference between the liquidations of the delivered products and the market price - amounts to 6.3 million euros for the 2022/23 financial year.