The majority of the million machines that Spaniards use every day to buy cigarettes in bars or to buy coffee in the office come from Peralta, in the depths of rural Navarre.
Before the Azkoyen Group began its business on a modest scale in the 1940's, there was no manufacturing tradition in the area. But now in the fields surrounding Peralta, just North of the Ebro River, a series of companies have developed, in many cases associated with the original company.

As well as the suppliers of components, there is also a direct competitor in the area in the same line of business, Jofemar, which specialises in cigarette and drinks machines. It was set up by a group of former employees of Azkoyen and is currently its main rival in the domestic market.

For three decades, Azkoyen was a small family workshop, until it became an international manufacturer of vending machines and electronic change mechanisms, with a proportion of its shares held by foreign investors and its brand becoming increasingly popular in European countries from the early 1990's.
The company, which has 800 employees and a turnover that in the last financial year reached 16,400 million pesetas, was recently in the list of the 100 fastest growing small companies outside the United States published by the magazine Forbes. One of the three other Spanish companies in the list is also in Navarre, Viscofan, which manufactures sausage casings and is an agricultural and food group.
With the majority of its shares on the Spanish financial market, Azkoyen is also a dominant force in Portugal and is currently trying to become the leading cigarette supplier for Great Britain.

With marketing operations in France and Germany, foreign sales have increased by 30% since 1992. According to Ricardo Armendáriz, one of the directors of Azkoyen, exports should grow by between 40% and 50% in the next two or three years.
Few industrial sectors are going to be so directly affected by the introduction of the single currency. Until now, the different currencies have kept the European market fragmented, says Armendáriz. The passage to the euro, which will take place in three years in Spain and the other countries of Monetary Union, will give rise to a major transformation of the sector.
Azkoyen is preparing to take a considerable portion of the business generated by the transition to the euro, through the replacement, adaptation or reprogramming of the machines. With around 9 or 10 million machines affected in Europe, it is developing its capacity for the increase in demand. By next year it envisages supplying equipment that can operate and give change both in euros and in local currency and block purchases when the latter go out of circulation and people try to use them.

But they have not always worked with high technology. In order to establish the company its founder, Luis Troyas, spent time in Germany and returned to Peralta full of ideas on what could be done with the machines. He named his company Azkoyen, the name given to Peralta in the Basque language, which is also used by the local football team.
Its first projects included potato and asparagus peelers and a jointed crib for rocking babies as they slept. Vending machines would come later. The transformation took place in the 1970s, when the company began to make coin selectors for machines. 70% of the business was sold to a group of investors and to a regional development company. The company then entered the hot drinks machine sector.

The 1980s brought cold drinks, electronic technology, mechanisms for payphones, listing on the Stock Exchange and diversification, with the manufacture of catering equipment.
Catering products such as ice machines and coffee receptacles are made in another plant on the outskirts of Pamplona. With the same idea of expanding its markets, Azkoyen is now also selling its own brand of coffee.

Sales grew by 20% this year and have doubled over the last five years. Net profits have recently been at a modest 9%, reflecting the investment drive. The company maintains a policy of self-financing before taking out bank loans.