Piaggio takes € 70 million R&D loanPiaggio has agreed a € 70 million loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund Piaggio Group research and development projects.
The seven-year loan covers R&D projects to be conducted at the Piaggio Group’s Italian sites.
The investments planned by Piaggio for the three years 2016-2018 will enable the Group to "continue and intensify its R&D work to bring to market innovative, eco-sustainable scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles that are safer and more reliable, with lower fuel consumption and emissions".
For the EIB, the loan is part of a core lending programme to support research into and the development and implementation of cleaner, more efficient technologies for transport, in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from traffic.
For the Piaggio Group, the loan agreement will support "the development of innovative technological product and process solutions in active and passive safety, sustainability (including electric motors and reduction of fuel consumption in combustion engines) and customer satisfaction, based on research into new mobility concepts, new driver-vehicle interfaces, and communication and web access protocols".
It is said that the loan, whose borrowing conditions are described as "highly competitive compared with current market conditions" will also "further strengthen the Group’s financial structure and extend its average debt life".
At the end of October the Piaggio Group reported that their capital expenditure in the nine months to 30 September 2015 amounted to 68.2 million euro (+19.6% from 57 million euro at 30 September 2014), of which 39.9 million euro was for R&D expenditure (34.8 million euro in the first nine months of 2014).
While the company has returned to profitability overall, it is carrying some -495.8 million euro of debt on its balance sheet.
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