“Last year was neither bad nor good. The VAT cut helped us stay at the same level as the previous year. This year I think will be slower than in 2015. I don’t see a consumer spending rebound, I think people don’t have that much money to shop,” the entrepreneur said.
Unicarm’s revenue therefore stood at about 660 million lei (EUR147 million) in 2015, after an almost 10% decline in 2014, according to ZF’s calculations based on Finance Ministry data. Its sales peaked at RON734 million in 2013.
Meat generates most of the revenue of the Satu Mare (northern Romania) company, 60%, while the bakery, dairy and ice cream operations account for the rest. Unicarm also has about 100 stores of its own in the north of the country mainly and sells products via modern retail chains like Carrefour and Auchan.
“We constantly develop our product range and tap into new segments, otherwise it is hard to stay in business. Competition is really strong,” Lucut says.
The company opens one or two stores a year wherever suitable space is available, because the availability of retail space is rather low in the northern part of the country, the entrepreneur added. (EUR1=RON4.5013)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)