Elite sells Delis division, keeps only coffee business

Elite, the coffee producer that recently changed its name to Strauss Romania, will give up the Delis brand range (peanuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds) after it sold Merlin biscuits to Dobrogea Group last year.
“We want to focus on the coffee segment in Romania, particularly on premium products. We will also sell the Delis range, after we gave up Merlin biscuits last year,” said Matanya Schwartz, general manager of Strauss Romania.
Delis was launched by Elite Romania at the beginning of 2004. Initially, the company set out to achieve a 20% market share on this segment by the end of its first year. Delis products are processed in Elite’s plant in Bucharest, while the seeds and peanuts are imported.
On the segment of dried fruit roasted and peanuts, Delis competes with Fiesta and Felix (Flipper), Nutline (Alka), Mogyi (Mogyi Hungary) and Standard (Standard Snacks). Over the last 2-3 years, the biggest transaction on this market segment was the acquisition by Nut Company (Holland) of Flipper (the producer of Fiesta peanuts), held by Turkish investors. The company posted an approximately 80 million-euro turnover last year, up around 11% on 2006, and expects its business to maintain its growth rate, as a of result brands improving their position on the market.
Strauss Romania will launch a new brand on the premium segment. “We will focus on the premium segment of the coffee market, and intend to introduce a new brand on this segment, given that it is not very well represented (it accounts for around 1.5%-2% of the coffee market), and we will try to preserve our position,” said Schwartz.
In the first nine months of 2007, Elite Romania held the leading position on the coffee market, with a 43% share of the total market of roasted and ground coffee, according to company data.