Hervis: Consumption going back to normal brings healthy growth

Catalin Pozdarie, who manages Hervis network, the sports retail unit of Spar group, says the company's strategy for the following period also takes into account Government's austerity measures. Pozdarie is aware that he must factor in a visibly lower purchasing power than two years ago and announces a slower development pace than he would have in 2007, partly because of the lower number of retail spaces delivered by developers. While for 2009 he can talk of growth of as much as 10% in RON (a 5% drop in euros) from the previous year when turnover reached 28.7m RON (7.8m euros), for this year the trend was certain only until this month. He cannot specify, though, the level of turnover at the end of 2010, the more so as the situation could radically change if, besides salary cuts in the public sector, authorities hiked taxes. Which is the good thing in this crisis situation? Consumption is going back to normal, even though this means reverting to the purchasing power of 2004-2005, according to Pozdarie. "(...) We're going back to a normal level of consumption that can generate real and accurate increases. Healthy growth is an expression nobody knows in Romania any more (...)".