Two companies buy Emania.ro

Herom and CSC Open Systems, based in Piatra Neamt, bought the www.emania.ro virtual store in February. The former owner of the store is New Media Concept and this is the first time ever when an IT industry outsider is involved in such a transaction.
“Both companies will hold 50% in emania.ro each. This is the first such deal in Romania. We had initially agreed to reveal the exact amount of the contract, but changed our minds in the meantime because we felt we could influence other possible such deals,” Andrei Baciu, Herom general manager said.
New Media Concept CEO Cosmin Golea said the value of the transaction was influenced by several factors, including the revenue trend, the name of the virtual store and the database with the company’s clients.
“At any rate, the seven New Media Concept shareholders made a good deal by selling emania.ro. Developing a strong virtual store and selling it for as good a price as possible has been our purpose all along since first creating the website,” Golea added.
Launched in September 2000, the emania.ro virtual store posted 173 million ROL net profit and 8.2bn ROL turnover in 2002. It had posted 4.5bn ROL revenues in 2001, as well as 47 million ROL gross profit, compared with the 250 million ROL losses and 1.5bn ROL turnover in 2000.
Herom Piatra Neamt was established in 1993. It is a Henkel (detergents and cosmetics) and Elite (coffee) dealer in Bucharest and 11 counties. The company logged approximately 230bn ROL in revenues last year.
CSC Open Systems was set up in 1994 and operates as a provider of IT products and solutions in Neamt County. It posted 43bn ROL turnover in 2002.
The new owners of emania.ro are planning to double revenues in 2003, up to at least 16bn ROL.
“Both companies are experienced distributors, which can only help further growth of the site. We don’t want to turn the virtual store into an additional distribution channel. Detergents and cosmetics for instance, sell better in a real store, than in a virtual one (…),” the Herom representative said.