“This year we set out to boost revenue by at least 15%. We will continue to focus on the international and domestic market and on finding new customers. We also want to launch new products this year,” Damian Mereu, owner of Croco, one of the most powerful Romanian-held sweets businesses in the country, told ZF.
Considering the revenue stood at EUR30.5 million in 2016, Croco should see at least EUR35 million revenue in 2017, if it achieves the projected growth of more than 15%.
The company started work on the first phase of a EUR14 million project to boost production of the plant that makes products for the domestic and international market. The first phase requires a EUR7 million investment and will be self-funded.
Next year the company will implement phase two of the project, set to cost another EUR7 million, also self-funded if unable to secure state aid, Damian Mereu said. The investments will almost double Croco’s production capacity, he added.
The development of the production capacity of the Croco plant in Onesti comes at a time when the company is the leader of the cracker sticks, cracker and brezel segments and among the top three on the sweet biscuit segment, Damian Mereu said.
Croco also exports products to more than 30 countries, and its most important foreign market is Europe, the entrepreneur added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)