Antares Cluj sells office chairs worth 15m euros

Antares, a manufacturer of ergonomic office chairs and executive chairs, expects an around 15 million-euro turnover this year, up 11% against last year. "The real estate crisis is affecting our company's sales, as well, so we will not be able to record the same rises in 2009 as in previous years. Our turnover this year relies on home and office improvement," said Laczko Csaba, general manager of Antares Romania. Antares officials believe the Romanian office furniture market is in its last stage of maturing, local manufacturers are quite well known, while major European companies have subsidiaries in Romania. Antares Romania announced a 2.5 million-euro investment plan last year in view of building a storage facility in the Bucharest area. The company has two furniture showrooms in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, and exports to Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria. Antares Romania was set up in 1998 in Cluj-Napoca and is part of international group Antares. Laczko Csaba holds 10% of the company's shares.