Dedeman is the leading DIY retailer in Romania and posted EUR476 million sales in 2011. This year’s growth came from the four stores it opened in 2012, as well as from the five stores opened last year whose first full-year in operation was 2012.
“Our ten-month sales were slightly higher than budgeted at the beginning of the year. This performance was largely because of the expansion of our network by four stores, as well as because of the stores opened last year reaching maturity,” Dragos Paval, general manager and majority shareholder of Dedeman told ZF.
Dedeman has invested EUR47 million in the opening of the four new stores in Constanta, Ramnicu Valcea, Slatina and Bistrita, which took the network to 30 stores. With the four new stores and with the investments scheduled for 2013, the company could see sales reach about EUR570 million next year.
“We are preparing construction of new stores in the cities where we do not have a presence yet, as well as in Bucharest. We can keep the opening pace of the last few years. We budgeted eight percent higher sales in 2013 as a result of network expansion,” Paval said.
Dedeman’s sales average per store stood at EUR20.5 million last year, second only to Hornbach (EUR21.2 million), a company with a smaller network but larger stores.
DIY companies have been significantly affected by the decline of the construction industry and have most often used network expansion as their only way to achieve growth.
Paval’s expectations for the end of the year are not exactly optimistic.
“Sales in the last two months of the year might suffer as a result of the elections held by the end of the year.” A number of businessmen are talking about a wait and see attitude induced by the uncertainty surrounding the taxation system.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)