Vel Pitar vice-president Dan Trifu told a regional business publication: "Our investment plan for 2004 is in excess of $4 million - an upward trend compared with the last couple of years. We are going to finance expansion using our own cash flow and credit. As other financing options become available and really competitive, we will definitely want to pursue them."
During the course of 2003 the company acquired two other Romanian bakery businesses, Iasi and Targu Jiu. It forecasts that these deals will increase turnover in 2004 by around 60 per cent to €38 million compared to 2003.
Now the company is set to acquire three other bakery businesses by the end of this year, reported to be Panificatie Postavarul Brasov, Panem Giurgiu and Libertatea Bucharest.
Vel Pitar was formed in December 2001 as a result of the merger of four bakery businesses: Mopariv Ramnicu Valcea, Berceni Bucharest, Mopariv Cluj Napoca and Granpan Tecuci. In October 2002 the company acquired Spicul Arges Pitesti, and in 2003 it acquired two other companies: Pangran Iasu and Grojpan Targu Jiu. The acquisitions mean that the baker now has production facilities in seven locations throughout Romania.
The business is now one of the leading Romanian players in bakery production and distribution, specialities, biscuits and milling products, with a monthly bread production of 7,500 tons and a milling capacity of 12,000 tons.