Nokia Romania, 500m-euro turnover in two years

Finland’s Nokia, world’s biggest mobile phone producer, with annual sales of above 50bn euros, has quietly reached half a billion euro turnover in Romania, becoming thus one of Romania’s 40 largest companies, ahead of companies such as E.ON, Posta Romana (Romanian Post Office) or Holcim.

The company’s turnover climbed from 6.6m euros in 2007 to 455.6m euros in 2008 after the opening, in February 2008, of a mobile phone plant in Jucu commune of Cluj county, in the wake of investments worth 60m euros.

Nokia’s half a billion-euro turnover comes from the assembly and export of mobile phones, which are mostly going to other European countries. Parts are imported from Hungary, China or Mexico and then assembled by the around 1,600 employees of the plant. With less than 2,000 employees and half a billion-euro turnover, Nokia Romania is one of the most productive companies domestically.

The high productivity per employee is also made possible by the complexity and rising value of mobile phones assembled in Cluj.

The first mobile phone assembled in Cluj was one of the simplest on offer, namely a Nokia 1200 with a black and white screen, but a few months later the Cluj plant was already manufacturing mobile phones five times more expensive, such as Nokia 6300.

The mobile phone industry is as a matter of fact one of the few that can allow for such turnover growth for a 60m-euro greenfield investment involving less than 2,000 employees.

Andreea Mladin, an analyst with Capital Partners investment firm, says, though, that the value of turnover does not come as a surprise. “Practically, it’s now that the true value of Nokia investments can be seen and the volume at which the company designed the unit of Cluj. As phones assembled here become ever more complex, Nokia turnover is likely to grow ever more,” Mladin said.

Nokia Romania was valued at 169m euros, according to the “Top 100 Most Valuable companies in Romania” yearbook compiled by ZF and Capital Partners.