Construction company Arcom sees four-fold decline
Arcom, one of the leading construction companies before 1990 has
seen its turnover plummet, to less than 10 million euros, a
four-fold decline against last year.
The company was taken over last year by businessman George Becali,
owner of Steaua football club, and Arcom has not won any major
contracts on the constructions market, with the number of employees
down over six-fold, to 77.
"The company will only build projects for George Becali, and we
will make a fresh start in 2010. This year we cleaned up and cut
the number of employees to a minimum, we couldn't cut any further
if we wanted to have a base for growth," one of the members of
Arcom's Board of Directors, who wished to remain anonymous, told
ZF.
The company has not earned any new contracts this year on the
Romanian market and lived off contracts sealed in previous years.
"We were late in making the decision to reduce the number of
employees, because we kept hoping to win a big contract. We took
part in tenders this year, but, having failed to earn any contract
by August, we started making massive cuts to the number of
employees and kept only the management and the engineers," says the
quoted source.
The Arcom management intends to sell its 10% stake in plasterboard
producer Lafarge Arcom Gips, as well as other shares in companies
where Arcom is a minority shareholder. According to market
information, Arcom was offered 1.7 million euros by Lafarge for 10%
in Lafarge Arcom Gips, equivalent to 56 euros/share. Lafarge
representatives did not wish to comment on the transaction.
"We commissioned an audit in order to see how much Lafarge Arcom
Gips shares are worth because we received an offer that we consider
to be too small. Lafarge has a pre-emptive right to buy the stake,
but we are also considering negotiating with other producers or
investment funds, if an agreement is not reached," says the Arcom
representative.
Lafarge has up until now invested over 20 million euros in the
plasterboard plant held by Lafarge Arcom Gips in Bucharest, which
enabled it to increase its stake to 90% because Arcom did not take
part in the investment.