Carpatina into the black

Carpatina, owned by Lipomin Lipova, posted a 17.1 million RON (4.3 million euro) turnover in 2005, a 32% increase against the 2004 figures, when it posted 12.9 million euros. Carpatina turned to profit in 2005, after it had seen net losses worth some 150,000 euros. Carpatina estimated sales of 38.3 million litres of mineral water for last year. Another indicator that went up last year was the average number of employees, which rose from 133 in 2004 to 156 people at the end of last year. At the beginning of this year, Lipomin Lipova bought Carpatina from Petrom, following a transaction estimated by market sources at 3-4 million euros. Petrom sold its 82.99% stake in Carpatina as part of its strategy to divest assets, which were not part of its core business. Lipomin Lipova operates in the same field as Carpatina, production of mineral water and juices. The company, whose portfolio includes Lipova mineral water, witnessed a 1.7 million euro turnover in 2004. The sale of Carpatina is the most recent transaction on the local specialised market. Nevertheless, the market of mineral waters saw a few highly important moves in 2005. Signus Romania Distribution, which, together with Murfatlar, Euroavipo Posta Calnau and Romdrinks is a part of Euro Group, acquired the bottler of Bibco Biborteni mineral water, a company with annual business worth over 8m euros. ZF