Rolast hit by strong ROL and bad market

Synthetic rubber marks maker Rolast Pitesti’s 2002 financial results will be lower than those in the previous year, because of the bad conditions on the foreign markets, the stabilisation of the national currency against the USD and the lack of firm cost optimisation measures, Dan Dumitru Popescu, Rolast general manager said. Popescu has recently become general manager of the company after his predecessor Constantin Divan resigned and the main shareholders, three investment funds, appointed a new interim team. Divan resigned at the end of one of Rolast’s worst years in business after 1990, as the company posted $15.7 million in sales nine-months through 2002, down 20% in USD from the same time in the previous year. Rolast expects to post some $20 million full-year turnover, compared with $25 million in 2001. Dan Popescu feels the downward trend of the financial situation is mainly due to the decline of the foreign markets on which Rolast operates and to the loss – experienced by other exporters, as well, of a great competitive edge they used to have before 2001: the serious depreciation of the national currency, which made selling abroad “cheap.” ZF