Nestle takes over Delta ice cream producer

The Swiss company Nestle has bought the Greek ice cream producer Delta Ice Cream, which owns a plant in Romania, located in Bucharest.

The deal, worth 240m euros (287 million dollars) directly propels Nestle into leading position on the Romanian ice cream market.

The acquisition sealed by the Swiss group is part of the company”s strategy to expand activities on the Greek and Balkan markets. The Greek producer Delta Ice Cream carries out operations in Romania through Delta Romania, which is the biggest producer on the domestic market.

Delta Romania”s financial results have followed a declining trend during the last two years. In line with data from the Ministry of Public Finances, last year Delta Romania registered more than 30% lower turnover, down to 8.3 million euros (33.7 million RON), and racked up losses standing at 3.6 million euros in 2004. The company”s representatives had made no comments on this deal by the time of going to press.

This year, the domestic branch of Delta Ice Cream also decided to change the management of the company, with the general manager position now being held by Victor Peter Helas, who replaced Dimitris Giannakopoulos.

The ice cream market is put at around 35 million euros per year, with the top two positions being held by Delta Romania and Napolact, a company that is a member of the Friesland Romania group, each with annual sales of 7-8 million euros. Other major players are Betty Ice, Amicii (Kubo Ice Cream) and Alpin.

For the other market players, Nestle”s entrance on this segment is a sign that guarantees market growth.

“Nestle is a global player and is likely to attempt to bring the domestic branch of Delta back on an ascending trend. This move will add to the professionalism of the Romanian market, which is still characterised by cheap ice cream and by an extremely low level of promotional activities,” says Gerbrant De Boer, Friesland Romania general manager.

Delta Romania owns an ice cream factory in Bucharest, with an annual production capacity of 7,000 tonnes. The main brands sold by Delta on the Romanian market are Top Gun, Best and Aloma.

Nestle entered the Romanian market as early as 1995, and in 2000 purchased Timisoara-based wafer producer, Joe. Last year, the company logged turnover worth 62 million euros.

Beside wafers, in Romania Nestle also sells culinary products (Maggi), cereals (Nesquick, Fitness), baby food (Nan) and dog and cat food (Purina, Friskies). The company has not brought any of its ice cream brands onto the market so far, though these are traded through some independent importers. The main ice cream brands Nestle manufactures are Scholler, Savory, Frisco and Frigor, as well as Movenpick. dana.ciriperu@zf.ro ; georgiana.stavarache@zf.ro