The investment will be made in partnership with IKEA, which will come up with EUR6 million, while Sortilemn will contribute the remaining EUR3 million.
Sortilemn’s main customer, IKEA, was interested in the development of this project because of its high needs for coat hangers. The investment started in January and the first production tests should begin this fall so the plant could be open in November, Michael Brandhuber, general manager of Sortilemn told Ziarul Financiar.
The development plans for the new plant include hiring 200 people this year and 100 others by 2015. Revenue should reach EUR10 million for the first year in operation and the new facility should work at peak capacity in 2015, by which time it should be making 75 million coat hangers a year and generating EUR17 million in revenue.
Sortilemn exports 99% of its output to clients such as Sweden’s IKEA, Stokke (Norway), Holsag (Canada), Elano (Norway) and ForaForm (Norway). It has 28 active clients and will add three more over the next three months, its general manager said.
The company ended 2011 with EUR30 million in revenue, up about 36% on 2010 and posted growth of 16% in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the year-ago period.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)