Paul Nuber, the general manager of Nestle Romania, says the next three years may see the company enter new markets and continue to acquire companies, in the wake of Romania's recent EU accession.
Nestle Romania, one of the largest companies in the food industry, with a turnover worth 120 million euros last year, plans to boost its product portfolio and exports by entering new markets.
"Acquisitions may be sealed at an international or national level, we are constantly keeping our eyes open to market changes. Given our extensive global portfolio, the number of possible new categories for products in Romania is quite high. We will make decisions exclusively on the basis of market demand, as our purpose in Romania is to provide products that consumers want," states Paul Nuber.
Nuber says that the three years before 2007 represented the preparatory phase for Romania's EU integration.
"We're entering the second phase, the post-accession phase, when Nestle Romania's development may be taken further by the company's entering new market segments, through production in Romania or elsewhere, or possibly even through acquisitions," adds Nuber.
The purchase of Delta Ice Cream, a Greek producer, internationally in late 2005 brought Nestle Romania sales of 13-14 million euros on this market segment in 2006. Nuber states Delta Romania will continue to exist as part of the Nestle group domestically.
However, the takeover of the clinical nutrition unit of the Novartis group internationally, will have no impact on the Romanian market in the following period, as Nestle Romania will not be involve in the distribution of these products.
Nuber expects Nestle Romania sales to rise by 20% this year, which could take the company's turnover to more than 144 million euros.
"In Europe, from Reykjavik (Iceland) to Vladivostok (Russia), Nestle Romania is among the top five companies of Nestle group (...)," adds Nuber.
He also says the food service business (hot drink vending machines) has posted the biggest increase at a domestic branch level for the group over the past year, followed by cereals and baby food. Exports signal another direction of development for Nestle Romania.
They have come to account for 20-25% in the overall production of the plant of Timisoara, with part of the investments Nestle Romania operated last year intended to increase production capacities for foreign markets.
"At the end of last year, we started exporting Joe wafers to Ukraine, and other products from the Timisoara plant are going to boost our exports, particularly to Serbia and Croatia (...)" specified Nuber.
Nestle has been present on the Romanian market since 1995, when it launched the Nescafe, Maggi and Nesquik brands.
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