Romaqua boosts water and beer production

Romaqua group, controlled by Octavian Cretu, in the first quarter boosted its mineral water production by 12% from a year ago, while volumes of bottled juices remained unchanged.
Water and still drinks boast the biggest weights in the group’s sales, but this year the biggest contribution to the company’s turnover will be brought by Albacher beer, launched on the market in the spring of 2008. “Volumes of bottled beer in the first three months are over 6% above the results of the first quarter of 2008,” specified Mihaela Draghici, a communication manager with Romaqua Group.
The producer counts on a turnover advance by around 50%, in RON, from 2008, on a market that in the first quarter was hurt by consumption declines on the mineral water and beer segments.
Last year, the company reported 20% higher sales of water and juice compared with 2007, with Borsec and Giusto as the most important brands in its portfolio on these segments.
The producer also operates on the coffee market with the Metropolitan Caffe brand, but this has a low weight in the group’s overall revenues. Draghici specified Romaqua cut down coffee production in the first three months from a year ago to prepare the market for the launch of the product in a new packaging.
The group’s consolidated turnover last year reached 478m RON (130m euros), up 45% from 2007, with the biggest contribution to this advance having been brought by the launch of the first beer brand in its portfolio, Albacher. Producers in the non-alcoholic drinks industry expect a market rally as a result of forecasts indicating temperature increases in the following months. Most of them are betting, though, on more modest sales increases compared to recent years. 2009 is the first year when Romaqua is freezing investments in group development, after in the past three years the cumulated value of these investments topped 50-60m euros.
The group’s biggest investment project, worth 40m euros, was finalised in mid-2008 with the opening of Sebes brewery, which allowed the producer to enter a new market. For the first year, Romaqua wants to reach a 4-5% share of the beer market. The main stakeholders in Romaqua Group are Octavian Cretu and Nicolae Palfi. They hold together 90% of stock, with the rest being divided between several persons, including group employees.