“We are below the budgeted results, we had initially estimated growth, but we have 10-12% decrease. It’s a tough year, we see in the volume of goods that the purchasing power is decreasing, both on soft drinks, beer and building materials or automotive components,” Catalin Lazar, commercial manager of International Lazar Company and son of entrepreneur Ion Lazar, who started the business, told ZF.
The company has more than 250 trucks and employed 374 people last year.
International Lazar has contracts with Ursus, Heineken, Carrefour, Profi and other retailers, as well as with Renault, for which it provides transport to Morocco, according to the latest data.
“It is clearly an atypical year. After last year’s growth we were expecting growth this year, too, but so far it hasn’t happened. (…) We haven’t bought any more vehicles. There are a lot of small carriers in the market that are affected.”
Freight transport on international routes accounts for almost 60% of International Lazarus’ business. The main transport routes for International Lazarus are to Spain, Germany, France and Morocco. The carrier reported posted RON24.8 million net profit last year, up from RON11.4 million the previous year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)