“2013 was challenging for the constructions market and 2014 is in its turn a difficult year. The infrastructure segment is not moving, yet, despite the good signals, at least at a declarative level, from authorities,” says Ileana Nicolae, who has recently been appointed manager for Eastern Europe by the Sika group.
She adds that election years, as is 2014, brought more investments in the constructions industry and there are signals on the market that certain public investment projects are going to restart.
Starting April, Ileana Nicolae will coordinate Sika operations in 18 countries in the region, with total revenue of some 400 million Swiss francs (EUR330 million) last year, or 10% of the group’s overall sales. Sika has around 800 employees in the 18 countries.
In Romania, Sika generated revenue of over EUR20 million in 2013, slightly up from 2012.
“Romania is among the 5 most important countries for Sika of the 18 countries I’m in charge with. It is one of the countries I will focus on as the constructions market potential is very high here,” says Ileana Nicolae.
For 2014, Sika has planned an average revenue increase of as much as 10% at region level. In Russia, sales are expected to advance by over 10%, while in the other countries, including Romania, Sika wants 5%-7% higher revenues.
In June 2008, Sika opened an additives plant of Brasov, central Romania, the first production unit on the local market. Last year, Sika opened a new plant in Cluj county, in the northwestern part of the country, where it produces dry mortars.
“In Romania, we are likely to also start exports from the Cluj plant to Hungary and possibly southern Ukraine in mid-2014. We already export to the Republic of Moldova from the Brasov plant,” says Ileana Nicolae.
Constructions, a market of EUR8 billion to EUR9 billion annually, which should have boosted the Romanian economy during the crisis, have come to contribute a mere 7.9% to GDP last year, compared to almost 11% during the boom period. Last year, when the economy grew by 3.5%, constructions had no positive contribution to the increase.
“Should the growth pace of 3%-4% maintain for several years, it is only then that this growth will be felt in all sectors,” Ileana Nicolae adds.
She says that, in the lack of a well developed transport infrastructure and with a constantly changing legal and fiscal system, Romania is no longer attractive in terms of foreign investment.
The general manager position Ileana Nicolae filled in the past 12 years was taken over by Laurentiu Stefanescu, who has worked with Sika since last autumn.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)