“We projected 20% growth [of sales this year], as exports will become an extremely important component of our business. Last year proved it, when we had 100% growth in this department,” said Radu Timis, chairman and shareholder of CrisTim, one of the most important family business in foods industry. The company’s sales fell 5% in 2011, showing that the domestic market continues its decline.
Timis believes the world economy is sliding back into the crisis and “Romania is no exception to that”; however, he says he has high hopes for this year.
Also optimistic is Laurentiu Lupusor, general manager of construction materials maker Baumit Romania, part of Austrian group Schmid Industrie Holding, who believes 2012 will be better than the years before it.
“The Romanian economy, though not making much progress, can still keep a certain pace that has not slowed down too much during the crisis. (…) There haven’t been any major bankruptcies in Romania and that makes me optimistic.”
Baumit, a company that arrived in Romania in 1995, saw its construction supplies business grow to almost EUR30 million in 2010.
Another company in the construction industry, CON-A, controlled by Mircea Bulboaca, set out to keep its turnover at the same level as in 2011 or even achieve a slight growth. “CON-A has already successfully navigated through the three years of crisis, which affected every segment of the Romanian society. We’ve managed to post growth in turnover every year since 2009, including 2011,” Bulboaca said. CON-A estimates it ended 2011 with 16% turnover growth to 235 million lei (EUR54 million). The entrepreneur also announced a EUR5 to EUR6 million investment in a new plant; part of the money will be European funds.
The shareholder of Marex Braila (SE Romania), one of the largest companies in its region, which saw revenue up an estimated 5% to 6% on 2010 and expects 4% to 5% for this year, Marin Moraru says he, too, is considering investments.
“2011 was a good year for us. Sales were up, sale prices remained the same, even though grain prices did not go down as much as I had expected. We budgeted EUR10 million investments for this year, which will also lead to an increase in the number of employees.”
On the other hand, Wael El Ghadban, 45, the Palestinian-Lebanese executive who runs an over EUR300 million business via consumer goods wholesaler Top Brands Distribution, is less optimistic.
He says his company will only make the minimum necessary investments in the coming period. Expansion plans will be reconsidered and a decision to boost investment will be made only if there is real opportunity for it. Top Brands official expects 2012 to be another crisis year. (EUR1=RON4.3197)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)