Founded 8 years ago, Celsius 2000 company, known as Omnitech Partners till last year, is the only company producing condensing boilers in Central and Southeast Europe. Florin Marinescu, the company’s chairman, is a Romanian-born American citizen who returned in Romania in 1990, after 15 years of living abroad.
Florin Marinescu, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), started his business in Romania in 1991 within a small workshop of industrial production and with 10 employees.
“I started out by making dry vacuum pumps and double toroidal blowers, which I exported to the US. The experience I had gained by 1993 allowed me to take the next step and produce a new condensing boiler, with a complex technology. I had the concept from the US, while the company where I was an associate, Omnitech Partners, had several patents in this field.”
British Keston Boilers Ltd, the partner of Celsius 2000 has been the latter’s sole shareholder since 1996. “Our main outlet is Great Britain. The co-operation with Keston fared very well and the British partner in 1996 proposed to take over the shares in Romania,” Marinescu specifies.
Celsius 2000 last year registered 66 billion lei in turnover. The price of such a condensing boiler depends on its capacity, but the most inexpensive is the 24 kilowatts one, the standard model, which costs 980 dollars.
Euroman Exim International imports heating units from Italy’s Radiant Bruciatori through a representation contract. After seven years of activity, the company holds 2 stores in Bucharest, 52 distribution points throughout the country and has installed 10,000 heating units so far.
Cristian Manasia, the company’s manager, considers that the competition of this market can be hardly defined, as the unfair competition still plays an important role.
“Competition does not mean only the authorised representatives of such companies like Vaillant, Bosch, Ariston, as the bulk of the heating units are imported by fishy methods. No company in Transilvania can achieve its business plan, due to the boilers brought from Hungary without paying customs duties. On the other hand, some fake heating units brought from Turkey are available on the market.”
In spite of so many difficulties, the manager considers that the business with heating units is profitable if done in a professional manner. His company registered 35 billion lei in turnover last year, up 9% against the previous year.
“The sales usually increase starting with June, while February, March and April can be considered dead season. Sales may reach 100-250 units monthly during the peak periods.”