95m-euro target for Caroli Foods

Caroli Foods, one of the top three cold cut producers in Romania, posted a 66.8 million-euro turnover in the first nine months of this year, a 50% increase against the same time in 2005. Company representatives are targeting a 95 million-euro turnover for this year, after results in the first nine months exceeded the 62 million euros reported in the whole of 2005. “The increase in turnover has been the result of an advancement in sales of our established brands,” says Talal El Solh, chairman of the Caroli group. The chairman of Caroli Foods also said new products, as well as the planned investment in modernising and retooling the factories, would push turnover up to 95 million euros this year, increasing over 50% against last year. This year, Caroli used a 6 million-euro SAPARD fund to expand its production lines and to install a new line for the production of raw-dry salami in its Pitesti-based plants. The most dynamic categories in the company’s portfolio have been salamis and hams, with the former seeing a 63% increase in the January-September period against the first nine months of 2005.