Editura Polirom, put at 25m euros

Editura Polirom (Polirom publishing house), one of the biggest players on the Romanian book market, with turnover put at 7.5m euros this year, has a market value of 25 million euros, in line with estimates by Silviu Lupescu, general manager of the company.
“Given the 25-30% constant annual increase in turnover, its holding the top position on the book market in the past 3 years, the offer of around 1,200 titles and a portfolio that includes Romanian and international authors such as Saramago, Nabokov, Hemingway, Lessing, Fowels, Rushdie, Salinger and others, the annual profit rate revolving around 15-20%, Editura Polirom can be estimated to be worth over 20m euros, probably around 25 million euros”, Lupescu told ZF. He specified there?s no independent evaluation of Polirom publishing house. Polirom publishes 600 titles annually, of which 70% are new ones, in around 1.5 million copies, according to Lupescu. The publishing house’s market share amounts to 12%, according to his estimates. The main stakeholders in Editura Polirom SA are Lupescu Silviu Alexandru (17%), Bunduc Viorel, (2.5%), Butuca Adrian (54.04%), Dolhascu Irina Oana (13.2%), Tiron Anca Claudia (13.176%).
Polirom ended last year with turnover worth 5.8m euros, while the target for this year has been set at more than 7.5m euros, up 30%.
“We hold 8 bookstores that operate via a franchise under the Polirom brand in Constanta, Sinaia, Satu Mare, Zalau, Slatina, Bistrita and we have our own bookstore in Bucharest. At the same time, the publishing house collaborates with around 350 bookstores and wholesale distributors across Romania and in the Republic of Moldova and more recently with bookstores in Italy and Spain as well”, stated Lupescu.
Editura Polirom also manages Cartea Romaneasca publishing house, the oldest publishing brand in Romania, which specialises in publishing Romanian authors.
After the first 7 months of this year, Polirom’s sales surged by 32-35%.
The company’s main objective for the next two years is to double turnover and boost market share. This year’s investments are aimed at developing the online sales system on the existing platform.