Hochland sees sales up in first quarter

Hochland Romania, the biggest cheese producer domestically, finalised the first quarter with rising figures from the same period of last year, after the company’s sales rose by 27% in RON in 2008.

“Hochland Romania last year posted 27% higher turnover in RON, while the company’s income went up by 70%. As regards the figures we reached in the first quarter of this year, we are several percentage points above the same period of last year,” stated Sergiu Mititelu, a CEO with Hochland Romania. Taking these growth rates into account, the company’s turnover in 2008 went past 215m RON (58.8m euros), while net income hit 13m RON (3.7m euros) compared with eight million RON (2.4m euros) in the previous year. In euros, turnover generated by the domestic subsidiary of Germany’s Hochland group advanced by 15%, while income was over 50% higher. “The figures come as a result of investments operated to boost productivity, efficiency and to develop new products, as well as of the fact that we have a stable team,” the company’s CEO said. Mititelu chose not to anticipate the trend of turnover this year, stating, though, that internal projections have also taken into account a worst-case scenario. “It’s difficult to make forecasts for this year and those who say they know what will happen by yearend are purely speculating. It’s better for us to talk about 2009 at the end of the year,” Mititelu states. According to him, the dairy industry is being hurt by the financial crisis and dairy consumption is about to stall this year. “2009 is an atypical year, and just like 2007, it will be a draughty year. This means we may see food price increases,” he stated. Mititelu maintains the liquidity crisis is currently the biggest problem, which may lead to new mergers and acquisitions in the dairy industry this year. “During this period, we are flexible and are trying to make our decisions in such a way as to not harm our company’s long-term development,” said Mititelu, adding Hochland is mulling new acquisitions depending on opportunities. “Around 15-20% of the company’s annual sales are accounted by imports, with the percentage varying each year (…),” stated Hochland Romania’s CEO.