BenQ: Now, people who have money replace the monitor, not the computer

BenQ Romania, the Romanian office of Taiwan's IT equipment and electronics producer, will see turnover rise by 40% this year, according to an upbeat scenario, but will still not be able to reach the 2008 turnover level of 12.8m euros under these circumstances, either.

"Until now, we've reached a turnover level similar with last year's. Everything depends on the fourth quarter, when everything we sell will add to turnover. We can estimate turnover will go up by 40% from last year," stated Mike Borze, managing director with BenQ for CEE.

He stated the company's target was to hit 10m-euro turnover next year. It posted 5m-euro revenues last year, less than half the 12.8m-euro level of 2008.

In the first quarter, BenQ held a 13.9% share of the domestic LCD monitor market, with 13,800 sold units, flat from a year ago. "We did not manage to grow, but we maintained the same figure of a year ago, a good result considering the domestic market dropped by 19.3% in the first six months," said Dragos Salamac, BenQ Romania team leader.

According to Mike Borze, the decline came as computers are not selling any more, but just monitors are replaced. "People who can afford it go and replace their monitors with better ones," he says.