Piping manufacturer Artrom Slatina, which is part of the Russian group TMK, the world''s second leading pipe maker, has budgeted a 112 million euro (4,091bn ROL) turnover for this year, up 83% in euros on last year''s sales.
The company expects full-year gross profits of 195.5bn ROL (5.3 million euros), 82% more in euros compared with 2004. There will be no dividends paid from the 2004 profit.
"The strong growth in turnover forecast for this year is mainly the result of the increase in output by 20% to a total of 79,000 tonnes of pipes.
"At the same time, together with the production increase, the added value (sales price) of the products sold will go up as well, following our having started to sell treated pipes after investing in two thermal treatment lines last year. The sales price rose by 21-22%," said Adrian Popescu, Artrom''s chief executive.
The value of these investments exceeded 2.3 million euros, with the company planning slightly larger investments for this year.
Artrom officials went on to say that the improvement in this year''s results would also be the result of the increase in trade volumes for steel products other than pipes.
By the end of last year the company had accrued debts of more than 1821.4bn ROL (44.9 million euros), most of which (32 million euros) being the funding provided by the majority shareholder, Artrom''s management says.
The pipe maker exports around 85% of its output to Germany, Italy, Austria, Benelux, US, Canada and France - countries that have a developed car making industry, with the pipes made by Artrom sold as automotive subassemblies.
Like any other company whose primary focus is exports, Artrom was affected by the consolidation of the ROL against the euro and the dollar.
Despite this, however, the company''s management says exporters shouldn''t be complaining about the exchange rate drop in the last two months of last year, given that all exporters made a lot money off the exchange rate in the first half of the year. catalin.ciocan@zf.ro
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