The number of employees fell to less than half, 885, at the end of last year, while revenue dropped 40% in euros to EUR102.2 million.
Electrolux has a home appliances import division and the plant in Satu Mare in Romania. It became a majority shareholder of the latter in 1997. The more than one hundred year old facility used to make Samus-branded cookers before the takeover, a brand Electrolux replaced with its own afterwards. The plant had about 2,300 employees at the time of the takeover in 1997.
“The home appliances market has gone through major changes in the last two decades and the high global competition induced an efficiency improvement trend of the entire industry,” Electrolux officials said.
“This made an impact on the operations of Electrolux worldwide, including Romania, where various restructuring steps were needed after the acquisition of the cooker plant in 1997.”
Moreover, the recession in Europe that started in 2008 took a toll on the operations of Electrolux, forcing it to adjust to the low demand, the company officials say. “This includes the Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, where production volume has considerably shrunk compared with the pre-crisis period. This and the recent investments in improving the efficiency of the plant are the main reasons for the low number of employees in Romania. They were difficult actions but necessary to protect the future of the company.”
According to the annual reports of the Swedish group, the global business grew during the crisis from 105 billion Swedish kronor to SEK109 billion (EUR12 billion) last year. Moreover, the number of employees worldwide increased by 6,000 to 61,000 people.
Electrolux’s revenue in Romania fell from 626.5 million lei (EUR170 million) to RON451.7 million (EUR102.2 million) in 2008-2013. However, the revenue returned to growth in this country last year, gaining almost 2%. After the restructuring of the business in Romania, its losses dropped to one tenth of the previous level, from more than EUR6.5 million in 2009 to EUR0.6 million last year.
The local officials of the Swedish group would not provide any data about the current or previous production of the Satu Mare plant. Back in 2008, the facility made most of the Zanussi cookers sold by the group.
With a little more than EUR100 million revenue, Electrolux is the second largest home appliances manufacturer in Romania after Arctic, which makes EUR321.5 million worth of fridges and fridge freezers in Gaesti, in the south of the country.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)