“Around 85% of production is exported, and the percentage will remain stable over the coming years. One third of exports go to Japan because this is where the best prices are. The Western-European market is no longer performing well, so we are focusing on Japan and the Middle East,” Gerald Schweighofer told ZF.
The almost EUR500 million expected this year are accounted for by the wood industry business and the energy segment (the company holds co-generation plants).
The businessman also has farmland, forests, and a hotel in Radauti (northern Romania).
Holzindustrie Schweighofer is the largest wood processing business in Romania.
Schweighofer owns plants in Radauti (for timber production, set up in 2008), Sebes (also timber, set up in 2003), in Siret (the edge glued panels plant, bought in 2008) and in Comanesti (a plant that manufactures for do-it-yourself stores, taken over in 2009).
Investments of EUR45 million
The Austrian businessman announced he had invested EUR45 million this year in a cogeneration plant in Radauti with a capacity of 10 megawatts of electricity and 30 megawatts of thermal energy, a project that will be completed this month.
The project has also entailed the development of a pellet facility (wood pellets are made from compacted sawdust, and used in stoves and for to generate power). This adds to existing facilities in Radauti.
“We needed more energy and hot water,” said Gerald Schweighofer, explaining the investment. He added that a further EUR6 million had been invested in a new production line in Comanesti and that no other projects were scheduled until the end of this year.
The Austrian group plans more investments in 2013, with the total budget amounting to EUR23 million, from the group’s own funds. EUR6 million will go into a new manufacturing line in Siret and the remaining EUR17 million will go into another production line in Comanesti.
“We have resumed exports to the US, where there are signs of revival on the construction segment. We had suspended exports to the US in 2008, when the economic crisis started,” the businessman said.
The advantage of exports: when a country is not going well, another compensates
The wood processed by Holzindustrie Schweighofer reaches 60 countries and when one market is not performing well, another compensates. According to Gerald Schweighofer, this would be the explanation for the fact that the profit margin of the main company in the group was 20% last year.
According to Finance Ministry data, Holzindustrie Schweighofer recorded a net profit of 312 million lei (around EUR69 million) and a turnover of RON1.58 million.
Schweighofer’s group has around 2,300 employees and was built both through investments from scratch and through acquisitions. The first acquisition was sealed in December 2008 and finalized in 2009, when Schweighofer bought the former IKEA plant in Siret.
At the end of 2009 the entrepreneur also concluded a deal with Wood Product Industry, the wood processing division of Finnish group Metsaliitto Cooperative, to buy the Finnforest Baco Productions plant.
Both plants that have been bought were among the clients of Holzindustrie Schweighofer and have since been rebranded.
“We are keeping the profits in Romania, we are not paying dividends,” Gerald Schweighofer also said.
An analysis of data on the website of the Finance Ministry shows that between 2009 and 2011 the main company in the Gerald Schweighofer group, Holzindustrie Schweighofer SRL, recorded cumulated net profits of EUR166 million.
According to data centralized by ZF, in 2011 the company was no. 12 among the most profitable companies in Romania.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)