Georgescu has run Kandia Dulce, with revenue of EUR39 million last year, for over one year.
Kandia Dulce, which owns a plant in Bucharest, together with Heidi Chocolat, are the two businesses in the local chocolate industry held by the Meinl family.
Georgescu says that amid the high number of inhabitants in rural and small urban areas, population density, as well as Romania’s poor infrastructure, the weight of traditional retail will remain high in the following period.
The company wants to boost the visibility of products such as Rom, Fagaras or Magura, to strengthen the distribution of these products and sees a higher growth opportunity for impulse products in the area of traditional retail on the short term.
According to Georgescu, for the company he runs, modern retail accounts for 55% in revenue, while the rest of 45% comes from traditional retail.
Mihai Georgescu says 2014 has been a very good year for the business he manages and that on the domestic segment the company saw revenue rise by 12%-23% in the first nine months of the year against the year-earlier period.
“Our business is structured along three major areas: the domestic area, the most important for us, where we want to build, then the export segment and a segment of collaboration with third parties for which we produce own labels. But private labels and export account for around 10% in the business, while the domestic segment accounts for 90%”.
For 2015, Georgescu expects two-digit revenue growth.
“Certainly, if we look at 2015 and not only, the company’s strategy is to build further on these two main brands, Magura and Rom, as well as Fagaras. These two will certainly be extremely important pillars for the future growth of Kandia Dulce and a lot of our support and investment efforts will go into that area”.
The company’s growth opportunities are also outside these areas. Thus, the manager speaks of Sugus brand, which has also registered a favorable trend.
The major growth pillars for Kandia Dulce business so far this year have been the main impulse brands in the portfolio: Rom, Magura and Fagaras, which each posted two-digit increases in the first nine months.
According to company data, Rom is the most powerful brand of Kandia Dulce, accounting for 25% of its revenue and volumes.
Rom is the best-selling brand in the chocolate bar category and in August half 20% of the market by volume and 21% by value, according to Kandia Dulce calculations partially based on Nielsen data reported through Retail Index Service.
Rom posted 60% higher sales in January-July 2014 against the same period of last year, both in volume (tons) and value, according to the same sources.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)