Italian group Landini expects turnover worth 70m euros from the Tractorul Brasov plants, which it took over from the Romanian State at the end of last year.
The company is in advanced talks with four banks to provide agricultural producers with more accessible financing methods. "We would be happy to reach a balance in terms of profit, since it is not easy to get rid of the past thirteen years' problems in only two and a half months. This year, we want to cut costs by at least 20%, by improving efficiency in energy, gases and services," Mauro Frola, the Landini official in Romania told Ziarul Financiar. According to Frola, no employees from Tractorul will be fired, thus meeting the pledges made in the privatisation contract. The Brasov-based tractor manufacturer posted 577.1bn ROL ($17.4m) in turnover in H1, 2003, down from 1,564bn ROL ($47m) in 2002 and 1,455bn ROL ($51m) in 2001. Six-month losses went up to 509.6bn ROL in 2003, up 10% from the year-ago period, when they amounted to 460bn ROL.
The takeover of the company based in Brasov will be completed by the end of February, so the new models of Tractorul will be launched at the end of this year. "We need time to launch the new 80 and 100 horsepower tractors, but I hope we will be able to display them at the end of this year, following a 5m-euro annual investment programme," Frola says. The most suitable model for the Romanian market is now the 80hp tractor, which will replace the traditional 65hp model. However, the Landini official is optimist about increasing demand for the 130-150 horsepower engines in the near future.
stelian.negrea@zf.ro
