“We have already requested to have the space of the warehouse in Timisoara doubled, where we have a six or seven-year lease. We are also in talks to expand the warehouse in Cluj and want to double the warehouse in Constanta, as well. We are leasing warehouses in those cities, built by their owners to our specs, and in Iasi we moved into a new warehouse, while in Brasov we built our own,” Adrian Mihai told ZF.
The warehouse in Brasov the company built in the first half of this year required a EUR5 million investment, entirely self-funded. The almost 34,000 square meter hub took on a significant share of the country-wide shipping of the company.
“The investment in the warehouse in Brasov and the rent on the warehouses in the rest of the country amount to about EUR6 million,” Adrian Mihai added.
FAN Courier has grown its business year by year by making sizeable investments. Last year’s investments in fleet, technology and other things alone amounted to EUR12 million, 50% higher than the initial estimates of its shareholders.
The company also invested in fleet development this year, to be able to handle the higher volume of parcels.
“FAN Courier’s nine-month revenue rose by 20%, above the budgeted 15%, and we are expecting even higher growth at the end of the year, given the holiday season. To be able to meet demand, we leased new vehicles, several hundred in all, more than 100 of which for Bucharest alone.”
FAN Courier delivers parcels for companies in various sectors but online commerce operators are among its best clients.
“All our clients have 10% higher budgets this year, but the online commerce companies budgeted the highest growth, more than 30%. Online commerce has been generating more and more of our revenue year by year. Whereas it in 2015 generated 30% we estimate 35% to 40% this year, compared with nearly 10% in 2013.”
FAN Courier is the leader of the parcel delivery market in Romania and its rivals are Urgent Cargus, DPD Romania, Nemo Express and TNT. It posted 400 million lei (EUR90 million) revenue in 2015, up 20% on 2014. Initial estimates pointed to EUR102 million revenue in 2016, but the performance so far means revenue will be even higher than that. (EUR1=RON4.4504)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)