“We are targeting 2.0 million euro [$3.0 million] in turnover for 2009 with a net loss of 400,000 euro,” Romstal Bulgaria general manager Darius Trifan told SeeNews in an interview.
The company (www.romstal.bg) recorded a net loss of 520,000 euro on a turnover of some 1.0 million euro last year.
Romstal Bulgaria was set up in 2007 and started operating at the beginning of 2008. Its investments have exceeded 2.8 million euro so far. The company sells materials, equipment and machines for plumbing, heating, gas, sewerage, fire fighting and air conditioning installations. It employs 22.
“Our estimation is that the market in Bulgaria collapsed in 2009 to sixty or fifty percent of the level reached in 2008,” Trifan said.
Nevertheless, Romstal Bulgaria’s sales are rising and its market share increases. Its main competitors in the country include Ruvex, BG Therm, Intermetal, Eurocom 2000, Thermodesigntotal, Bulgaria Therm, Sivex Ginger, Enbra Bulgaria, Deplan and Filbo.
“In 2008 we estimated the volume of the market (without air conditioning) at approximately 200 million euro, so based on this estimate our market share is supposed to have been insignificant, some 0.5% to 0.6%. We believe Romstal Bulgaria will account for around 2.0% of all sales in the sector in 2009,” Trifan said.
“We’ve won a lot of our competitors’ clients.”
Trifan expects a market recovery to happen no earlier than the middle of next year.
“The analyses of the last few months show that the bottom has almost been reached or is about to be reached in the next one or two months. Also, having in mind that December, January and February usually are months without many changes, we believe that around the middle of 2010 we will have an increased number of positive news.”
The Romstal Group (www.romstal.ro) has said it targets a turnover of 532 million euro in 2009, up from 501 million euro last year.
The group includes sanitary and electric equipment distributor Romstal (which operates in seven countries through a network of some 200 stores and franchises), pipe and fittings manufacturers Valrom and Valplast, Mercedes Benz dealer Autoklass, bath tub manufacturer Belform Prod, real estate developer Dezim Development, information technology company IOS Software Solutions, Central Service, City Garden and Serbian equipment distributor Doming.
