Mars expects sales rises and operates separately from Wrigley

Producer of Mars and Snickers bars sees growth perspectives on the Romanian confectionery market in 2009 and says it will not merge with Wrigley. “So far the Mars-Wrigley merger has not led to any changes in the two companies’ organisation structure. We will continue to conduct our business as two separate entities, as we have done,” said Tomasz Pawlowski, general manager of Mars Romania. The 23 billion-dollar transaction by which Mars took over the Wrigley producer was completed last autumn, when it was announced that Wrigley would become the subsidiary of the buying company. In Romania, Wrigley is leader of the chewing gum market and posts higher turnover than Mars, with the Orbit producer reporting a 68.4 million-euro turnover in 2008. Neither of the two companies has production facilities in Romania. Mars’s Romanian subsidiary expects a sales increase this year, after in 2008 it recorded an around 25% turnover rise against the previous year, to almost 50 million euros. “For this year it is quite difficult to give a precise growth estimate, but we expect to continue the sales increase seen so far. Given that we have not recorded significant fluctuations this year against the similar period of 2008, I cannot say the economic context has affected our local business,” Pawlowski said.