Residential building boosts Lindab business by 20%

The domestic branch of Sweden”s Lindab group, a producer of tin profiles and ventilation pipe systems, is forecasting 20% growth in turnover for this year relative to last year”s 23 million euros.

“In the first half of this year, we had turnover of 9.7 million euros, 21% higher than for the corresponding period last year amid a higher amount of residential building” said Andrei Sulyok, a business unit manager with Lindab Romania

The metallic profiles unit of the group manufactures metallic systems for civil and industrial constructions. According to company data, 95% of its turnover is linked to the sales from its Lindab profiles division, with the remaining 5% coming from the ventilation division.

“We estimate sales from the profiles division will increase by around 15%, while sales from the ventilation division will see a 40% increase. Both sales increases will be supported by the investment of around one million euros,” said Sulyok.

He went to explain that the constructions market had been dominated by residential building during the fist half of the year, but that industrial building in the second half had begun to show the same growth trend as last year.

The total investment by the Swedish company in Romania is worth 4.5 million euros, aimed at production and warehousing as well as the firm”s own buildings that were built on greenfield sites in Stefanestii de Jos, near Bucharest.

This year has seen Lindab invest one million euros in a new production and warehousing centre as well as a production line for structural and facade cases, which will also be housed in Stefanestii de Jos.

The company has a production capacity of one million square metres of metallic tiles, 3.2 million square metres of trapeziform folded tin plates and 1,000 km of circular ventilation tube systems. Last year, according to its own estimates, Lindab had a 40% share of the metallic tiles market. This market, which accounts for around 30% of the sales by the metallic profiles division, was last year estimated at over 20 million euros. According to Sulyok, the ventilation systems market was worth around 12 million euros last year.

Lindab entered the Romanian market in 1994 with importing and distribution, before starting production in 2001. catalin.lupoaie@zf.ro