ZF took into account Smithfield Prod, Smithfield Romania, Elit and Vericom 2001 companies.
The growth came from the two main businesses of the Chinese group in Romania – Smithfield Prod and Smithfield Romania, and the two companies acquired from entrepreneur Dorin Mateiu. Elit and Vericom 2001, established by the Alba entrepreneur, posted RON484 million revenue together last year, almost 20% of the total revenue of the Smithfield group.
Dorin Mateiu is the fifth entrepreneur in the Alba County to fully or partly sell the business they built, after Raul Ciurtin (Albalact – dairy), Levente Bara (Supremia – spices), Ioan Istrate (Alpin 57 Lux – ice cream) and Ioan Tecar (Pehart Tec – paper).
The acquisition of Elit allows Smithfield to expand on a segment where it does not have a strong brand – cold cuts, an about EUR800 million market where the most powerful actors include Cris-Tim, Caroli and Aldis.
The largest company in the Smithfield group is Smithfield Prod, which ended last year with RON1.14 billion, up 27% on the previous year.
The company owns the slaughterhouse in Timis County, which can process 600 head per hour, its corporate website says. Smithfield Pro is an integrated producer of fresh and semi-processed pork under the Comtim brand. It stepped into the black last year, posting RON1.1 million net profit, compared with a RON30 million loss the previous year.
Smithfield Romania group’s owner is China’s WH Group, the largest pork producer in the world.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)