Prahova-based charcuterie producer Principal Company has doubled its turnover in the first six months of the year to 50 million RON (13.8 million euros), as a result of the increase in sales driven by the campaign to promote the Matache Macelaru' brand.
"The growth stands at 106% in terms of value, and sales have doubled. The growth driver was the Matache Macelaru' brand, officially launched at the end of February," stated Radu Dumitrescu, brand manager of Principal Company.
Although the launch of the new brand did help Principal's business double in the first half of this year, the company official says that these results are lower than its initial growth estimates.
"We are 10% below our forecasts made at the end of last year in terms of quantitative sales; one of the reasons is the increase in prices in the industry, due to the rise in raw material prices. In terms of value, the difference between sales and forecasts is only 5%," the representative of the charcuterie producer explains.
Both in 2006 and 2007, the results of the company were lower than initially estimated, with Principal Company posting 20 million-euro turnover last year, an increase of 33% on the results posted in 2006. The producer had initially estimated turnover to double in 2007 compared with 2006, when it had posted 16 million euros.
Until 2007, Principal Company only had Salonta and Principal brands on store shelves. Yet after repositioning the Principal range on the medium segment, the super premium segment was left uncovered, which is why Matache Macelaru' cold cuts line was launched.
Radu Dumitrescu said at the launch that this brand would see approximately 5,000 tonnes in sales until the end of 2008, that is 30-35% of the turnover of the company, put at 40 million euros for this year. This means that the representatives of Principal Company expect to get at least 10 million euros from the sales of the new product line.
To be able to drive these sales, the producer allocated approximately 60-70% of the investments earmarked for promotion this year, some 5 million euros.
"In the first month after the launch of the campaign, sales exceeded our best previous monthly sales by more than 60%. Sales of the Matache Macelaru' brand were 70% higher in the first half of 2008 than in the second half of last year," Dumitrescu says.
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