Aerostar sees 11% profit decline

The Aerostar results are better than expected, with the company initially hoping for 1.4 million euros in net profits and a 20.8 million euro turnover.

From the profits made in 2004 the company intends to pay gross dividends of 3,500 ROL per share, 50 ROL lower than the gross dividends in 2003.

The bulk of Aerostar’s sales were made on the foreign market, which accounted for 78 percent of total turnover, according to a report for last year.

Aerostar’s main foreign market is India, where it sends 56 percent of its exports.

The share of civil products in the company’s turnover was 41.5 percent.

Aerostar makes and repairs aircraft and subassemblies, as well as containers for liquefied petroleum gas. Aerostar has provided repair and maintenance services for all types of aeroplanes used by the Romanian Military and was also the company that built the IAR-93 prototype, the first fighter aircraft to be made in Romania after the Second World War.

The company made investments of nearly 1 million euros last year, with the main focus of the investment programme being completing the implementation of the IT system required in the enterprise resource planning solution provided by Siveco, putting together a new JAR 21 certified production line, rehabilitating various production facilities and upgrading the manufacturing process.

Aerostar’s main shareholder is Iarom Bucharest, which holds more than 71 percent. Aerostar is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Its shares last traded at 54,000 ROL. Calculated at this price, the company has a market capitalisation of 17.6 million euros. catalin.ciocan@zf.ro