Building materials market resembles marathon race, distributor says

Safero Construct construction materials distributor expects 5m-euro turnover this year, close to the one registered in 2009, which was "the most difficult year for the company", as turnover declined by 60% year-on-year, to 25.2m RON (6m euros), and the number of employees dropped by half in the wake of restructuring.

In 2008, the company derived turnover worth 63.4m RON (17.2m euros), up 52% from the previous year.
"After business overhaul, we consider 2009 was the toughest year. In 2010, we target turnover at least matching the 2009 one, worth around 5m euros, against a profit of about 100,000 euros," says Toni Butaru, the company's CEO.
The falling building materials demand, the rising competition in the field and the reversal of the demand-supply ratio in favour of those who buy have been the main hurdles the company has coped with in the past two years.
"Construction materials market is like a marathon race, no one knows who will cross the finish line."
Toni Butaru says the company plans to access EU funds to develop logistics, reusable material storage, manipulation and recycling services.