Pambac Bacau sales are not recovering: down 5% in first two months

Pambac Bacau, a producer of pasta brands Gata and Flavora and of Grania flour ended last year with a 12% turnover decline in RON against the similar period of 2008, to 173 million RON (41.2 million euros). The result is below the company's original expectations of a 5% turnover increase for 2009.

Although the volume sold also fell by around 8% last year against 2008, Pambac's taxable profit was 49% higher than that posted in 2008, 4.8 million RON (around 1.2 million euros), while its EBITDA remained at around four million euros, within the average of the last few years.

"The profit rise was the result of the three years of restructuring, cost-cutting measures, of eliminating less profitable or wholly unprofitable product ranges," said Alin Giurea, 49, Pambac chairman. He added that the turnover decline mainly had to do with the price decline for products in the company's portfolio, as well as with the fact that Pambac stopped working with bakeries and pastry shops that could not pay for the merchandise with cash.

Giurea has put together a budget for this year, which he terms "unpredictable and difficult" - in two versions, an optimistic one - to preserve the results obtained in 2009, and a pessimistic one - providing for a 10-20% turnover decline.