Tricotaje Somesul expects 3.3m-euro sales
Tricotaje Somesul, a Cluj-based clothing manufacturer, expects an around 3.3 million-euro turnover this year, down by over 5% against last year. In 2008, the business of the Cluj company amounted to 3.5 million euros. “The unfavourable progression of the exchange rate, the fluctuation of raw material prices and clients’ low purchasing power are just a few of the factors behind our expectations to see a sales decline this year against 2008,” said Liliana Gog, general manager of Tricotaje Somesul. The manufacturing capacity of the Cluj-based company was of 25,000 pieces of knitwear per month last year, compared with 20,000-22,000 per month in 2007. The overall production of the Tricotaje Somesul factory amounted to 280,000 knitwear items last year, with the management of the Cluj company expecting a production of 260,000 items this year. “Knitwear sales are and will continue to be affected by the financial crisis, with the population being more thrifty in its spending habits, but the impact will be less heavy than in other sectors of activity,” Gog added. ZF
Market of drugs for erectile dysfunctions, new battleground for pharmaceutical giants
The market of drugs for erectile dysfunctions, estimated to be worth 7.2 million euros last year, has become the new battleground for pharmaceutical companies, both traditional manufacturers – Pfizer, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and producers of food supplements, such as Ozone and Walmark. Companies entered this niche attracted by the steady growth rate recorded over the last few years, with drugs used to treat erectile dysfunctions being one of the most dynamic segments of the pharmaceutical market, seeing a much higher growth pace than that of the overall market. As for the trend expected in the next few years, opinions are mixed. “For 2009 we expect the 30% rise to continue, in line with the trend recorded over the last five years. Whilst the market was put at around 4.3 million euros in 2005, in 2008 it reached around 7 million euros. There is a steady, moderate evolution, because it is mainly based on the population’s deficient medical education,” said Roxana Precu, retail business unit director of GSK. ZF
Tax-deductible sports vouchers can save companies 1,000 euros per year per employee
Employers could save 1,000 euros per year per employee if tax-deductible sports vouchers were introduced, functioning the same way as luncheon vouchers, gift vouchers and holiday vouchers. “We were very close to introducing sports-related benefits to our employees, but we have reservations for the time being. We never rejected propositions related to our employees, but if tax-deductible sports vouchers existed, we would definitely consider offering them to employees,” says Irina Stoian, HR manager of Cetelem, the Romanian consumer credit division of French group BNP Paribas, which employs 900 staff on the Romanian market. This year the company has granted vouchers worth between 100 and 400 RON for the best-performing employees, who benefited from the services of a beauty centre. Romanian companies tend to provide sports benefits to their employees in the form of subscriptions to a gym, either via a contract with a sports club, or in the form of a fixed monthly sum, which covers part of the cost of the subscription – with the employee paying the rest if the cost of the subscription exceeds the sum contributed by the employer. ZF
Now insolvent, Brailact wants its exports to reach 20% in three years’ time
Dairy producer Brailact, based in Braila, producer of the Brenac brand, which has recently entered insolvency proceedings in order to reorganise, expects cheese exports to account for 20% of turnover in three years’ time amid a production increase. “In May we started to produce cheese varieties, as well. We want to sell such products both on the Romanian market and to export them to Western Europe as of the second half of this year. We have recently applied for an export licence, which we expect to receive by the end of August,” said Yannis Mythis, the company’s general manager. The factory that Brailact has in Braila county can produce at least double as much as it does now, following the over six million-euro investments allocated in the last few years for modernising production lines, according to Mythis. “We are hoping exports will account for around 20% of Brailact’s operations in around 2-3 years’ time,” says the company’s general manager. ZF