When the Spanish government made helmet use compulsory for all motorcyclists in 1992, the Murcian company NZI Helmets experienced exponential growth and its turnover reached figures that triple its current sales. Years later, the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the use of this safety device in emerging countries have generated significant growth expectations for this company, which went public on the BME Growth market on 20 June with its sights set on the South American, African and Asian markets, and the intention of selling one million helmets a year by 2029, four times more than last year. The prospects sound very ambitious, but the company's executive director, Nazario Ibáñez, is convinced that in the coming years there will be a turning point in the safety of female motorcyclists around the world, derived from the guide that the WHO published in April last year to promote helmet use, especially in countries where this device is not yet mandatory. This organisation has set itself the goal of requiring all motorcyclists to wear an approved helmet in any country by 2030. For Ibáñez, this prospect opens up a business opportunity that the company founded by his father in 1983 will know how to take advantage of, as it did on a national scale in 1992. That was the year in which helmets became compulsory in Spain for all motorcycle users, whether drivers or passengers, on all roads, and on all motorcycles and mopeds. The company knew two years in advance that this legal change was going to take place “due to a tip-off from the ministry”, Ibáñez admits, and it prepared to respond to the growing demand that was coming by making significant investments in its factory in Yecla, a municipality of some 34,000 inhabitants in the interior of the region of Murcia, whose economy is based mainly on the wine and furniture industries.
Homologation
During those years, they developed half a dozen new helmet models, increased production, and between 1992 and 2000, NZI managed to cover 60% of the Spanish market. From that period comes their open-face helmet model Helix, which began to be sold in 1995 and whose name was used generically for years to refer to all open-face helmets, regardless of the brand. One of the differentiating elements was that all their helmets were homologated, a characteristic that has remained to this day. In that decade, NZI Helmets “sold everything it manufactured and with a good profit margin”, because there was hardly any competition: there were few national companies and Chinese competitors were not yet on the scene. They reached a turnover of “2,000 million pesetas a year”, some 12 million euros, their historical maximum, far from the 4.5 million turnover with which they closed 2023. Ibáñez acknowledges that, with the 2008 crisis, the company went through serious difficulties. Motorcycle sales plummeted and, with them, helmet sales. The company's turnover fell below four million euros for the first time and for several years it closed in the red. It lost competitiveness with respect to other brands due to the founder's personal determination not to relocate the business. “All of NZI's production was done in Spain, when the rest of the companies already had factories in Asia where they could produce at lower costs,” says the CEO. NZI decided to continue producing in Yecla and to focus its business on “high-end” helmets by partnering with motor brands such as BMW. However, competing Spanish and European companies offered products of similar quality at prices that NZI could not compete with. “In 2011 we opened our first manufacturing plant in China. It was almost a desperate leap,” admits Ibáñez, who explains that it was a very complicated process for the company, which had a hard time finding suppliers, spaces and workers suitable for its quality requirements. The effort helped them get back on their feet and currently the company already has two more plants in the Asian giant and one more in Pakistan, and is building a fifth factory in Africa. These are investments that have been made in the last two years and which were given a significant boost following the WHO guidelines. “We are being given the same opportunity that NZI had at a national level in 1992, but now, at a global level.” With this horizon in mind, the company's business plan for the period 2024-2029 aims to close that last year with a turnover of 20 million euros and one million helmets sold, which means multiplying its current figures by four (4.5 million turnover and 250,000 helmets sold in 2023). For 2024, the company already plans to increase its sales to 300,000 helmets and around seven million turnover. The IPO on June 20 is, according to the CEO, a means of financing to achieve these objectives. The company arrived at the BME Growth with an exit price of 0.91 euros per share and an initial valuation of 15 million euros. NZI already sells in many of these emerging countries: it does so in 65 markets around the world and, in fact, 70% of its turnover comes from outside Europe, but Ibáñez believes that it is precisely outside the Old Continent where all the room for growth of the business is, and the new international factories are designed to cover this growing demand. However, the Yecla factory, he assures, will remain open: with a staff of 38 workers (12 on the production line and the rest, divided into administration, logistics, engineering, design and marketing tasks), in its certified laboratory all the quality, safety and validation tests of the helmets are carried out before they are subjected to the official approval processes. Follow all the information from Economía y Negocios on Facebook and Twitter. Xor in our weekly newsletter