Romania's Sameday to invest 60 mln euro in regional ops in 2024

The investments will also focus on implementing new technological solutions, optimising delivery capacity and order processing speed, Sameday said in an emailed statement.

By the end of the year, the company aims to expand its network by 70% to 8,500 delivery points in the region. Of them, 80% will be easybox automated parcel lockers across 1,000 cities in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

Sameday's regional easybox network currently spans over 5,000 lockers, including 3,900 in Romania, 500 in Bulgaria and more than 700 in Hungary. Last year, the group expanded its locker network by an annual 11%.

In Bulgaria alone, Sameday plans to invest 6.5 million euro to triple its out-of-home delivery points to 1,500 locations by the end of 2024 as part of an investment plan worth over 8.7 million euro in total.

The company's regional expansion aligns with its strategy to create a regional online store delivery infrastructure that is easily accessible and efficient, Sameday added.

"We are determined to strengthen our position as a key partner in the development of e-commerce in the region. Our goal is to improve the customer experience and reduce delivery costs for online stores in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. By expanding our infrastructure, we can also increase the number of users that online stores in the region can easily reach," Sameday Group CEO Lucian Baltaru said.

Over the past 12 months, the group recorded an annual increase of 115% in the number of online stores using its cross-border delivery services, to some 6,000, and handled 95 million shipments in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

Sameday Bulgaria CEO Radoslav Krumov told SeeNews last month that he expects the unit's revenue this year to grow exponentially from 15.5 million levs ($8.4 million/7.9 million euro) generated in 2023, following a significant expansion of its operational capacity and logistic areas.

Last November, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it entered into a risk-sharing agreement with Romania's Banca Transilvania [BSE:TLV] for a 25.3 million euro loan which the country's largest bank is lending to Sameday.

($ = 0.9401 euro)