Two of the largest construction materials distributors on theRomanian market, Ambient Sibiu and Dedeman Bacau, with turnover ofover 200 million euros each, have lately received requests forpartnerships from smaller distributors, which are no longer able tocope on a market that has seen an over 30% decline since thebeginning of the year.
"We received a few propositions, but it is very hard tointegrate the stores into our network, either due to their format,or because their location is not good from our point of view or dueto poor quality of store construction," said Dragos Paval, majorityshareholder of DIY store network Dedeman, based in Bacau. He didnot give the name of the companies that came knocking on his doorin search of a "lifeline".
On the other hand, Ioan Ciolan, majority shareholder of AmbientSibiu has sealed two partnerships with a fireplace distributor inSibiu (Trotter) and with Daniel Trading company in Avrig, whichentitles the two companies to use the Ambient brand and to benefitfrom the distribution system of the Sibiu-based group.
Ciolan specified that his chain does not charge any fees tocompanies under the Ambient umbrella, and that the two businesseshave a 1-2 million-euro turnover.
"In the past year we received more requests for partnershipsfrom distributors than before," Ioan Ciolan, owner of Ambient, acompany with a 220 million-euro turnover in 2008, told ZF.
Trotter posted 0.3 million RON in turnover last year, and DanielTrading made a 6 million-RON (1.6 million-euro) turnover, accordingto data from the Romanian Finance Ministry. Ambient's own chainconsists of 15 shopping centres, 8 smaller stores and 4 storagefacilities.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
