“The performance of the business in the first half was unexpected. Coming from a hardly typical year, the 2021 forecasting and planning process was rather difficult. However, the implementation of the relaxation and reopening of the on-trade sector in stages came with a really high demand in the market, which led to better than expected results,” says Petre Berciu, who runs BDG Import and is also one of its four owners.
The main challenge in the first half of 2021 was product availability, as all major producers experienced logistics and inventory problems. However, BDG’s business did grow.
“We are now seeing, after the first six months, results above 2020 – which only makes sense, after all, and above those in the first half of 2019, too.”
Petre Berciu expects the growth to slow down in the second half, as the on-trade sector completes return to operations. However, some uncertainty about the potential restrictions to be taken to fight a fourth wave persists.
BDG Import ended last year with RON180 million revenue, a little more than 20% less than in 2019, while profit was down even more, RON5 million, a third of the 2019 level. The trend reversed in 2021.
The brands BDG imports include Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia and Jägermeister.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)