The Central-North Transformative Industries, Energy, and Environmental Activities Workers Union (SITE-CN) has announced that the deadline results from the insolvency declared last Friday by the Aveiro Court. This was in response to a second Special Revitalization Application by the injection molding company SLM.
“The insolvency is for both companies because DMM is part of the same group, and the case has been ongoing for several years. In 2023, they already requested a Special Revitalization Process [PER]. At that time, a six-month grace period was approved for the judicial administrator to try to find a buyer for the factory, but no interested parties were found,” stated the union coordinator Justino Pereira.
Since then, the process has “been dragging due to several obstacles,” including the challenge to the initial PER by some creditors, “mainly workers” who sought to secure their compensations in the event of production closure. “Between progress and setbacks,” two years have passed, during which “the company’s condition has worsened.”
However, Justino Pereira pointed out that the issue “is not a lack of orders” because, although Volkswagen is their sole client, “workers have never stopped working and even did overtime” since 2023. According to the union leader, the difficulty is in the “current treasury” because old debts to suppliers “keep accumulating interest,” so whenever the company receives a payment, “the money immediately goes out again, and thus there is never a stable and regulated ‘cash flow.'”
The situation affects around 500 employees between SLM and DMM, for whom the group “has all salaries up to date.” In a different situation are creditors such as Novo Banco, BPI, IAPMEI – Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation, Scalabis, and Servdebt.
“With the declaration of insolvency, the group’s expectation is that banks and other creditors will forgive part of the debt. This could make a difference, as, in terms of work, the brand has know-how and constantly receives orders,” said Justino Pereira.
Institutional data from SLM, founded in 1989, indicates that it produces an average of six million pieces per year. Of the 16 million automobiles manufactured annually in Europe, “20% of those cars” contain components produced by the group in Oliveira de Azeméis.
Lusa attempted to contact the company, but there was no response.
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