Braiconf sales up, profit down

Shirts maker Braiconf Braila concluded 2002 with 53bn ROL ($1.6 million) in net profit, down from the previous year in real terms. The company had posted 50.2bn ROL ($1.7 million) in 2001’s net profit. The profit decline came at a time when turnover had gone up slightly. Braiconf sales last year totalled 343bn ROL ($11 million), compared with 298bn ROL ($9.8 million) in 2001. More than 70% of the productive capacity in Braila is used to make shirts. Only 5% of the total output are sold under the Braiconf brand on the Romanian market, while about 80% are exported primarily to European markets. The main export destinations for Braiconf shirts are Italy, UK, France and Germany, but the company is also planning to expand to the Russian market over the next few years. Braiconf’s clients include Ferrari Formula One team, for which it made more than 20,000 shirts last year, with another 16,500 shirts due to be supplied in 2003, as stipulated in the contract signed early in the year. Braiconf’s debts had come to total 30.6bn ROL by the end of last year, when the company was employing more than 3,500. Braiconf was established as a state-run company in 1950. ZF