In the wake of the large number of ongoing real estate projects, the domestic installation systems market reached around one billion euros last year, up approximately 30-40% on the previous year, but is expected to stagnate over the coming years. As a result, players' strategies will focus on foreign markets.
"Bulgaria is an interesting market, unlike Hungary, which has begun to stagnate. We are interested in finding at least one market to focus on when the Romanian market takes a step back, which I expect will happen in about three years' time from now. I have already started to prepare for the Bulgarian market," says Rudolf Sommer, chairman and owner of Sommering, one of the leading players on the local installation systems market, which designs and builds installation systems for both civil and industrial engineering projects.
The owner says he has not had any takeover bids yet, but estimates the company is worth in the region of 20 million euros.
The main destinations targeted for potential expansion are Bulgaria, Albania and Kazakhstan.
"When entering a new market, such as the Bulgarian one, Sommering will only be involved with design, but, depending on how the business develops, we could begin to build and install these designs. We are very interested in Kazakhstan, because huge investments are being made there, and also in Albania. We have yet to establish contacts in these countries, but it is all part of the company's future strategy. I would like to use this stable year to find alternatives in these countries," explains Sommer.
Sommering currently has around 400 salaried employees and 300 sub-contracted employees. "We started out in 1995 with just three older employees, who had their own tools. Since January 2007, when we had 150-200 employees, we have made significant recruitments, which is how we came to the current figure," says Sommer.
Employees were chosen directly, through the company's human resources department, which employs three people.
From just three employees in 1995, the installation company has managed to reach turnover worth approximately 15 million euros in 2007, triple the level posted in the previous year.
Sommering's most important project, worth 16 million euros, was signed with Baneasa Shopping City, where the company handled both the design and construction of the project's installation systems.
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