After eight months the revenue of the company exceeded 1.7 billion PLN. Do you keep your target to reach over 3 billion in 2012?
This target is absolutely sure. The last four months cannot be worse than in 2011.
We will try at least to repeat the result from previous year, but it might be a bit difficult. In the time of economic slowdown, the profitability of a business is always affected. Influence on it can also have some other factors, like currency exchange rates. The margin really decreased a bit in the first half a year. But our aim is to keep it on a good level in the second half. A satisfactory level for us would be over 31 %. Margin on consolidated results. Association of Automotive Spare Parts Distributors expects that in 2012 the value of Polish automotive aftermarket will increase only by about 1-2 %. The pace of growth of Inter Cars is visibly lower on a monthly basis. So it is rather impossible to keep a two-digit growth dynamics.
And what about net result? Lately analysts of DMIDMSA lowered the forecast of profit of the company by 15%, to 110 million PLN, arguing that results for the 1H were below expectations and there are no perspectives for any improvement on automotive aftermarket.
According to what we say, starting from the beginning of the year, the market in Poland has slowed down. This year it will probably stay on the same level as last year. Almost everybody verify their earlier budget estimations or do not reveal them at all. In industry we have a classic example of the rule of connected vessels. If building industry is in trouble, it influences the transport industry. The trucks are driven less, so they do not need often changes of parts. Another thing is that it is impossible to keep a growth expressed with two-digit number for 10-15 years’ time. Such dynamics with such big revenue and big market share is impossible to keep for a longer period of time.
What do you think about takeovers?
In the country we do not see any point in buying a company similar to ours, because it will not have any advantage for our business. We would be interested in purchasing special businesses, but there are non interesting for us right now. Similar situation is in whole Europe.
Not long ago you wanted to enter foreign markets. You were saying about Serbia and Slovenia, but this year you have postponed the decision to an unspecified future. Has anything changed?
We want to launch our sales in Slovenia. At the moment we are just thinking about this country. It is comparatively not large market, but a very rich one. We think that it might be quite easy to enter. Currently we are in the phase of gaining customers. We have not taken a decision yet, if we should build a distribution chain there, or to takeover an already existing company. We will decide about that at the beginning of next year, to launch in Spring.
Still, your Achilles’ heel is operation of your daughter company – Feber. Will you make it profitable this year, as you have already announced?
The steps we have taken a year ago, in order to increase synergy in the Group, started bringing expected effects. That is why we are expecting positive results. In the most pessimistic execution, the loss will be at a minimum level. Revenue of Feber are not a big part of revenue of the whole Group. We want slowly to change it.
How are you going to reach it?
Two months before we have strengthened distribution, that is we have combined already existing structure of sales representatives with distribution chain of Inter Cars. We also want to use our Sales Reps. to sell semitrailers as well. Moreover we are developing the competence of sellers.
What plans do you have regarding the second aspect of this business, that is sales of parts for trucks?
In this sector we want to reach a similar success as we did in passenger cars market. This means that in perspective of two years we want to have a leading position. Today we are on 3-4 place, next to such companies as Autos, Opoltrans and Suder&Suder. The importance of this market segment is emphasised by the fact of appointing to the Board of Managers of the Group, Witold Kmieciak, who has lead Feber for two years now, and his main aim is to govern this market sector.
source: Parkiet DZ. / No 210
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