“The factors that led to this figure, taking into account the difficult constructions market, are the company’s shifting to maintenance and repair systems, the expanded client portfolio and the weather conditions, much better than in the same period of last year,” stated general manager Ileana Nicolae.
She believes that despite positive signals in the first half of the year, the building materials market will fall further this year.
“The economic downturn and the financial crunch are still here despite opinions to the contrary. We estimate the building materials market during this period (i.e. H1) dropped by around 7% from 2010, and we expect it to drop by 5% by the end of this year from 2010,” she stated.
Starting the second half of this year, Sika will raise product prices by 10%-15% amid the rising commodities prices internationally.
Sika last year reached turnover of RON65 million (EUR15.4 million), down around 10% from a year ago. The decline mainly came on the falling cement market. For 2011, the company expects turnover to go up by at least 10%.
The company plans to open a research and development center in Brasov, as well as build a cleaning station and a ventilation station for the concrete additives plant of Brasov, which has a production capacity of 10,000 tons annually.