Sweet profits for Excelent

Sweets maker Excelent Bucharest logged 60bn ROL ($1.8 million) in net profit in the first nine months of 2002, up more than 80% in real terms since the same time last year.
Still, the fourth quarter of the year is essential for the financial results of Excelent, as it is for any other sweets producer. For instance, the company’s Q4, 2001 sales (230bn ROL or $8m) accounted for nearly 40% of the full-year sales, whilst the Q4 profit (48.8bn ROL or $1.7m) accounted for 63% of Excelent’s 2001 profit.
The company’s turnover did not increase as much in the first nine months, though. Excelent sales totalled 557.5bn ROL ($17 million), up 33% in real terms compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Also, the increase shown in the financial results of the company is spectacular, but not quite as impressive as last year’s. Excelent logged 77bn ROL net profit in 2001, four times higher than the 2000 profit, although turnover increased only 16%.
The financial operations of the company made a positive impact on its financial results. Excelent posted 1.2bn ROL financial profit for the first nine months, compared with 3.6bn ROL financial loss in the same time last year. The company at the end of September was registering 91bn ROL in debts, 3.8bn ROL of which accounted for outstanding payments. The receivables it held mainly over various clients amounted to 120bn ROL by the same date.
Chocolate is an approximately $70m annual business in Romania, according to unofficial estimates. Aside from Excelent, the market leaders are Kraft Foods, Nestle, Heidi, Kandia and Primola, which jointly account for more than 80% of the total sales. Chocolate tablets were last year’s best sellers (60% of the total sales), followed by chocolate bars (12%) and chocolate-coated wafers (10%).