Friesland spends 4m euros on upgrades

Dutch group Friesland, the owner of three milk processing facilities in Romania, is to invest 4 million euros in modernising one of its factories, Industrializarea Laptelui Targu Mures. Friesland Romania Grup posted a 71 million euro turnover for last year, 17% higher than in 2003, with estimates for this year pointing to an increase of 15%. The factory in Targu Mures logged 6.3 million euros in first-quarter turnover, up from 4.6 million euros in the corresponding period last year. Net profits for the same period climbed to 620,000 euros from 270,000 euros the year before. Industrializarea Laptelui Targu Mures posted a 22 million euro turnover in 2004, compared with 17 million euros in 2003, while net profits reached close to 900,000 euros, triple the amount in the previous year. According to surveys commissioned by the company, Friesland Romania has 20% of the dairy products market. Friesland Romania last year allocated 2.7 million euros for investments, most of which will go to the upgrading of its production facilities in order to comply with European Union quality standards. ZF