Ostahie asks for 2m-euro VAT payments to be deferred by six months

Dan Ostahie, owner of home appliances and electronics retailer Altex, which saw a 50% turnover fall to 180 million euros in 2009, said he had requested the payment of VAT due for December, worth 9 million RON (around 2.2 million euros), to be postponed by six months, having lodged a request to this effect with the fiscal authorities. Altex is among the first companies to request a postponement of VAT payment after this was made possible through an Emergency Ordinance passed at the end of last year.

"Apart from VAT, the company has no other unpaid debts. The extremely unfavourable conditions in January and the other factors led to an unexpected volume of sales. We want to pay in the summer, when the cash flow improves," said Ostahie. Altex officials said they had to pay 1.7 million RON in interest rates, which they would pay in the coming period.

Altex expects this year's business plan to be similar to last year's, focusing on cost cuts and financial restructuring. As for the entire home appliances and electronics market, Altex expects sales not to exceed 800 million euros, with the 1 billion-euro mark to be reached only in two years' time.