"Romaqua" Group will not resort to layoffs

During these economically difficult times, "Romaqua" Group SA Borsec does not intend to freeze its workers" salaries or resort to any layoffs, Mihaela Drăghici, the company"s PR manager said. The group"s consolidated turnover for 2008 was 478,239,843 lei, up 45% YOY, from 328,539,267 lei. This growth comes mainly from the fact that the company entered the beer market with the "Albacher" brand.

Mihaela Drăghici said: " beer entered after a Greenfield investment worth 40 million Euros. The other mineral water and soft drinks also contributed to the growth of the company"s turnover, as their sales increased more than 20%, far exceeding the market average ".

The company"s manager forecast a 52% turnover increase, close to 730 million lei. The estimates are attainable, given the total bottling capacity of "Romaqua" Group SA Borsec of 3 million liters/day.

"As our main investments in production facilities and ultramodern technology, are done, we will only make complimentary investments. Especially given the fact that we are going through a difficult year, where we can"t make accurate sale forecasts. However, our sales for the first two months of 2009, exceeded our expectations, which is why we think that our forecasts may be in line with the growth of the previous years. Therefore, the management of the company has no intention to freeze the employee"s wages nor resort to layoffs ", Mihaela Drăghici said.

Adrian Teslovan, marketing director for "Romaqua" Group SA Borsec, added: "If we refer to the mineral water and soft drinks market as a whole, in 2008 our sales growth rate slowed down significantly. If we only look at , our growth for the mineral water segment 21%, far above the market"s average. It"s very likely this year will be tougher, but we don"t have any problems accessing loans, because we have a provable growth and we are solid. But the money has to enter the accounts first".

Mr. Teslovan further added: "The current financial crisis does not directly affect convenience goods. Its effects are mostly felt because of the monetary policy, and of the exchange rate. Some prices have begun rising in February, but we can"t make an accurate forecast for the market. For us, for our products, it"s the weather that is the decisive factor. Meaning, a warm summer would increase sale for water, soft drinks and beer. Anyway, the sales won"t be growing as fast as they used to, even though for us the first two months of this year were very good. So, as a conclusion, we"re in a period where we can"t approximate anything ".

"Romaqua" produces and bottles Borsec naturally sparkling mineral water and Stânceni, and also natural water with trace elements Aquatique-Buşteni. It also produces and bottles sparkling soft drinks Giusto, still soft drinks Giusto Natura, Albacher beer (pale lager of the Premium Pils type) and owns the coffee brand Metropolitan Caffe.