Albalact milks market to cream off four-fold increase in profit in 2009

Newsroom 20/12/2011 | 14:31

Albalact posted an increase of 18.59 percent in its turnover last year, to RON 225.97 million, up from RON 190.5 million in 2008. The company’s net profit grew four fold (by 330 percent) to RON 2.6 million.

“The dairy products market was dominated last year by low prices, low basic consumption by value, and a fight for promotions and shelf space. It was a difficult year, marked by high competition and price offensives, when many players tried to gain market share, but few succeeded. Most of them lost both market share and profitability,” said Raul Ciurtin, president and general manager of Albalact Alba Iulia.

He added that in addition to this there was also pressure from large retailers who tried aggressively to establish their own-brand labels. The company focused last year mainly on adapting its strategy to the economic conditions, which allowed it to grow more than the dairy products market (which grew by about 5 percent, according to the Romanian Association of Dairy Products Industry (APRIL).

Albalact also posted an increase of 4.44 percent in its turnover in the first quarter of 2010 on the same period of last year, to RON 64.4 million. Its profit rose by 121 percent to RON 4.6 million in Q1.

“We expect an increase of 10 percent in the business this year and higher profitability. 2010 will also be a difficult year both for the local economy and for the dairy products industry which will remain at

the same level as in 2009,” said Ciurtin.

According to him, the company will continue to extend its distribution, product portfolio and network of retail customers, while launching new products and promotions.