The company owns several production facilities in Romania, which generated almost EUR150 million in revenue last year, but stopped operating stores on the Romanian market directly in 2010 and only kept four franchised stores.
The Italian company owns the Benrom plant in Sibiu county (central Romania), which ended the year with 637 million (EUR141 million) revenue, 10% higher than in 2010 and five times higher than in 2007.
Benetton also owns 60% in Anton Industries in Arad, whose revenue stood at RON35.2 million in 2010, up 45% on 2009, according to the latest available information. The company made RON3 million profit and had 371 employees that year. No information about 2011 is available yet.
Officials of the Benrom facility in Sibiu would not comment on their business and the reasons for the revenue trend and only verified that it indeed works exclusively for the Italian group.
Whereas the manufacturing business of Benrom has increased by a factor of five in 2007-2011, profit only rose 3.5 times. The number of employees doubled to 165.
Benrom, whose sole shareholder is Benetton International SA, was established in 2005. The company is headquartered in Sibiu and has a plant there as well as a branch in Iasi (NE Romania)
According to Benetton’s annual report, the company makes wool products in Sibiu and textile and cotton products in Iasi. Iasi is also where fabric is cut and patterns are printed, while Arad takes care of the fabric dying and finishes apparel.
The production facility in Sibiu is among the top 300 companies in Romania by revenue and, according to ZF data is the largest textile mill in the country, followed by Rosko Textil (Arad) and Rifil Savinesti (NE Romania), whose revenue, however, is half Benrom’s.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)