Farmexim freezes wages and puts hiring on hold

Farmexim drug distributor, controlled by businessman Ovidiu Buluc, targets 25% turnover growth this year, with the 2009 budget to be revised against a 4 RON/euro exchange rate, from 3.8 RON/euro. Farmexim reached turnover worth 590m RON (160.2m euros) in 2008, up almost 23% from 2007. "We'll end the year with a loss. I want no more losses for 2009. We want a profit margin that should cover 2008 losses," said Ovidiu Buluc, Farmexim chairman, without specifying the value of 2008 losses. According to the latest data available, for the first six months the company had a 1.6m-euro loss. Thus, 2008 is the first year for which the distributor did not report profit. Thus, Buluc decided to reorganise his company, a process that involved both layoffs, and closing a warehouse. Last year, Farmexim made around 50-60 employees redundant, but for 2009 says it is not considering any similar moves. "We've frozen wages for the first six months and after this period, depending on results, we'll index them or not to the level of inflation. During this interval, we are not hiring". Farmexim is among the top ten drug distributors on the domestic market and one of the first companies that established in this field. "Had prices been adjusted, turnover would have been at least 10% higher and we wouldn't have had losses (...)," Buluc stated.