Intereuropa will offset the fall in western European operations with new projects, mostly with its new logistics centre Moscow-Czechow in Russia and the opening of a warehouse there, Lovsin told SeeNews in a written interview.
He said that the crisis has a milder impact on the eastern and southeastern European markets or at least it affects them with a delay.
Lovsin added that this year will be mainly marked by the full launch of Intereuropa‘s largest investment so far, the Moscow-Czechow centre estimated to cost 140.8 million euro, value-added tax excluded.
“Slovenia and Croatia will be still the most important markets [for Intereuropa], while the share of Russia in the total sales is rising significantly,” Lovsin said.
The Intereuropa group aims to become the leading provider of logistics services in southeastern Europe by 2011. Along with Russia and Slovenia, it is present in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, France, Germany, Austria, Ukraine and Albania. Earlier this month Intereuropa said it had entered the Albanian market as part of its strategy to deploy a partner network across southeast Europe.
“In line with our development strategy for the period 2006-2011 we plan to strengthen our position in Bulgaria and Romania as well,” Lovsin said, adding that Intereruopa has been present in the two Black Sea countries so far through local partners. He did not elaborate on Intereuropa’s plans in the two countries.
Lovsin said the global crisis has not hit Intereruopa hard yet, but “it is illusionary to expect that it will go round us”.
Besides shifting its focus to the East, Intereruopa plans to adjust its business strategy and optimise its costs in order to weather the global crisis.
“The crisis also is a possibility to become better, stronger,” Lovsin said.
Intereuropa posted a group net profit of 7.02 million euro ($9.2 million) in the first nine months of 2008, down from 26.15 million euro in the year-ago period when it booked financial gains. Group net sales through September rose by 18% to 202.57 million euro.
The group has said it targets an operating profit of 18.2 million euro this year, or 4.0% above its estimate for 2008. Group EBITDA is projected to rise by 12% to 35.9 million euro in 2009.
Shares in Intereuropa, part of the broader SBI20 index of the Ljubljana bourse, shed 0.11% to an average price of 9.30 euro on Wednesday.
