The United Kingdom becomes the next piece in Stm’s international growth. The Bologna-based group of gearboxes and geared motors, so far present across the Channel with a simple commercial office, is preparing to open a real branch: it will be the eighteenth office worldwide and will be established in 2027 to more closely oversee a market that has continued to expand in recent years. An industrial and commercial choice, but also a response to a business geography that has changed rapidly for the company.
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Since February 2022 Stm has in fact completely lost Russia, which was worth about 8 million euros in revenue. And, according to President and CEO Tiziano Girotti, that market is no longer recoverable today: “The segment in which we operated has been taken over by the Chinese.” Even Iran, with the worsening of international tensions and the conflict with the United States, has essentially been wiped out. Hence the need to seek new outlets, strengthening markets capable of offering growth opportunities. The United Kingdom is therefore the first concrete step of this new phase.
However, the company has not remained idle while the commercial map was shrinking. By 2026, the group expects aggregate revenues exceeding 130 million euros, compared to about 80 million ten years ago. Today the company’s products reach almost 90 countries and more than half of the turnover comes from abroad. The structure counts 556 employees, five production companies, twelve controlled commercial companies, and five affiliates, with an average production of about one million gearboxes and geared motors per year. In 2025 investments amounted to 6.8 million. It is an industrial scale that makes the choice of markets to grow in even more decisive. And for this phase of uncertainty, the group has decided to focus on the most solid markets.
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Growth has been built over time by combining organic development and acquisitions. The story begins in 1976 in Bologna, when Girotti and Altero Vignoli transformed their experience in gear processing into a project dedicated to power transmission. In 2000 Gsm joined the group, specialized in large gearboxes and lifting; in 2022 Neri Motori arrived, a historic company from San Giovanni in Persiceto, which allows Stm to complete the offer with integrated solutions between gearboxes and electric motors. “We have lost entire markets and conquered new ones – notes Girotti -. Our strength has been to intercept change and adapt, maintaining skills, quality, and production capacity in Italy while developing an increasingly international vision.”
The next test will therefore be England, where Stm wants to transform a commercial presence into a stable development outpost. And the push into foreign markets proceeds alongside attention to people. This year the company celebrated its 50th anniversary and chose to mark the occasion by recognizing, through a union agreement, one thousand euros of welfare for each employee, without any constraints linked to company results.
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