“It could have been better had it not been for the late January-early February snowfall, which ruined the two months’ results. We did not have any snow in the same time of 2013,” said Dan Sucu, Mobexpert chairman.
Despite the growth, the businessman has his reservations about the first quarter results, which might lead to a superficial analysis of the market trend and says he would rather wait for the first half data to draw a relevant conclusion.
One should also include Easter when analyzing the start of the year sales data, which can move spending from one quarter to another.
Mobexpert is the largest local furniture business, which operates a 32-store retail chain (including large format stores) and nine plants, and posted about EUR120 million revenue last year, according to ZF’s calculations.
The group’s revenue has been on the rise in the last three years, despite the decline of the market, after Sucu bet on certain segments that delivered as expected, such as garden furniture and decorations to offset the decline in furniture sales. Sucu also expanded his product ranges by adding new pieces and started attending trade shows more often.
As a result, after a decline in business in 2009 and 2010, the hardest years for the local furniture industry, Mobexpert started growing slowly but is far from the EUR169 million peak of 2008.
The furniture market started dwindling in 2008, affected by the shrinking purchasing power and difficult access to loans. Sales of furniture were flat in 2013, prompting expectations of a rebound of the industry.
“We see an increase (at Mobexpert i.e.) at the beginning of the year but we did not see the market growing. I expect the second half to look better as banking costs reach a certain reasonable level. I’ve never felt people wanting a better life is a problem, costs are (banking costs i.e.),” Dan Sucu added.
The businessman told ZF an in interview at the beginning of the year that banks were ready to resume lending after having focused on cleaning up their loan stock of sour loans.
This is the first time Dan Sucu is talking optimistically about the furniture market trend, after more reserved forecasts in the previous years.
One of Mobexpert’s projects for 2014 is the development of online sales, which should generate 10% of the revenue on the decoration segment. Decorations include products like carpets, lighting fixtures, and various gifts. Such products accounted for 12% of revenue in 2009 and now they generate 30%.
The year 2013 came with growth of 4% of Mobexpert’s revenue in lei, largely because of the above-mentioned product category.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)