Final Distribution: Roofing market, set to rise by 20% this year

Dan Mircescu, owner of Final Distribution, an importer of natural stone chip-coated metallic tiles, this year expects the market to go up in volume by as much as 20%, but also says the roofing market will see bankruptcies emerge starting the second half of the year. In 2009, the market reached a 250,000 square metre volume and a value of around 4m euros, while the overall roof market declined by as much as 40%. The stone chip-coated roof tile segment accounts for only 3% of the overall roof market, but its weight has been rising in the past few years. Stone chip-coated tiles have prices ranging between 25 and 30 euros/square metre, almost double the price of common metallic tiles. Final Distribution last year posted 4.2m-euro turnover, down 25% from 2008. The company's income also went down last year, to 300,000 euros, after having reached more than 500,000 euros in 2008. Mircescu did not make any projection for 2010.