Grup Feroviar Roman budgets 77m-euro business

Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR – Romanian Railway Group), one of the leaders on the local market transporting freight and goods, has budgeted a business worth around 77 million euros (270 million RON) for this year, up by over 50% in euros on last year.
“We will experience growth as a result of an increased market share, as demand for our transport services is rising. In turn, the boosting of our transport fleet will help us to meet this demand,” said Sorin Chinde, general manager of the company.
In 2006, the company started to provide international transport services between Romania and Bulgaria, and intends to also provide such services in partnership with Hungarian companies.
“For the time being, their share in the turnover is small (around 2%), but there is a genuine growth trend,” specified Chinde.
In order to meet the growing demand, the company will invest in buying and renewing its rolling stock.
“Our attention is focused on boosting and renewing our fleet of rolling stock, and this year’s investments will involve the whole profit derived in 2006,” added the manager of GFR.
The company did not offer any information indicating the value of the gross profit in 2006. However, according to data on the website of the Finance Ministry, the gross profit of the company stood at 5 million euros in 2005.
GFR’s turnover stood at almost 50 million euros last year, up 12% on 2005. The growth was primarily driven by the increase in the number of clients.
“In 2006, the number of regular clients tripled,” stated Chinde.
The clients of Grup Feroviar Roman include Petrom, Lafarge, Holcim, Mittal Steel, Shell Gas, Conpet, Compania Nationala a Huilei (The National Mineral Coal Company), Regia Autonoma pentru Activitati Nucleare (The Romanian Authority for Nuclear Activities) and RAFO Onesti.