Rolast Pitesti wants to halve losses

The manufacturer of technical rubber products budgeted losses worth 6.67 million RON (1.9 million euros) for this year, after the company registered total losses worth 11.8 million RON (3.26 million euros) last year. According to the spending and revenue budget approved last week by company shareholders, total revenues of Rolast would this year reach as much as 58.9 million RON (16.8 million euros at an average exchange rate of 3.5 RON/EUR), a drop of some 4% in euros against 2005. Last year, the Pitesti-based company saw a 20% drop of its turnover in euros, which stood at 59.6 million RON (16.4 million euros). In RON, Rolast”s sales went down by 28% against 2004. According to the report for 2005 drawn up by its managers, the drop in turnover was due to both internal and external factors. These factors included the decision to give up unprofitable products and customers with whom the company had formerly signed unprofitable contracts, as well as the decision of the Dacia-Renault group to produce the Logan model instead of the Solenza model, which resulted in most of the Logan parts being bought from prime international Renault suppliers. ZF