Maguay: We won’t stop growing despite the market decline

Maguay, a local producer of servers and laptops, held by the Pughin, family has increased its sales of portable computers in the first quarter compared with the same time of last year to almost 1,000 units and estimates it will end the year with 13 million euros in revenues, an increase of 25%. In the first quarter, the laptop market dropped 50%, with only the first four out of the top ten players on the market (Asus, Lenovo, Maguay and Apple) posting growth of sales compared with the previous year.

Eduard Pughin, chief operating officer of the company, says Maguay’s growth is based on the increase in competitiveness over the twelve years since establishment, as well as on the new products launched. One of the laptops recently launched by Maguay resembles the design of the ultra-thin MacBook Air laptop and costs from 525 to 1,000 euros depending on configuration. The laptop, which includes a 3G modem, has a magnesium case and waterproof keyboard. “The sales in the first quarter kept our annual growth pace (…) it’s just that others have seen a steep decline, therefore we stand out now, too,” Pughin says. Maguay’s sales in first quarter went up by 25% to 3.5 million euros. Maguay Impex’s main goal for this year is to boost operating efficiency given the problems of the economy. “Our priority for 2009 is to improve our economic efficiency, which has become the most important aspect we are monitoring,” Eduard Pughin stated. He added the company had not revised its target for the entire 2009, that is 25% growth of business to 13 million euros. “The target set at the beginning of this year is realistic. Certainly, if we hadn’t been going through an obvious worldwide recession, our targets would have been much bolder,” Pughin stated.