SUPPLIERS: Negative outlook for the businesses of big European players

The sales of large international corporations active in the construction sector have registered a downward trend in the first six months of this year. Thus, the results stood below the initial estimates of managers. Furthermore, the estimates for the second half of this year are not positive either, given that the difficulties of the main field are maintaining and the number of existing projects is not enough in order to sustain a market which has already been in recession for almost four years. The fact that most companies continue to implement plans and measures aimed at restructuring indicates that the minimum point of the recession has not yet been touched and managers expect new difficult times in 2014 as well. The slight recovery in the second quarter could not compensate the huge losses reported by companies in the first three months of the year, but can be a basis for an eventual increase, if things do not worsen at macroeconomic level. For example, the businesses of the Belgian group Etex decreased by 6.5% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2012, mainly due to the difficult conditions in Eastern Europe. The group's total sales amounted to 1.48 billion EUR. At national level, the company is represented by the drywall manufacturer Siniat and the roofing systems supplier Creaton & Eternit that have achieved together last year a total turnover of 26.3 million EUR. According to the latest data available, in June 2013, Siniat Romania should have started the building of a plasterboard plant of 50 million EUR in Turceni, Gorj county, but the company did not return with further information concerning this investment. In what regards the poor financial results for the first half of the year reported by Etex, the executive director of the group, Fons Peeter, says that "businesses have been affected by the heavy weather in the first quarter, which particularly decreased the sales in Eastern Europe. We continue the implementation of the debt relief by selling the unprofitable assets and secondary divisions of activity and we will invest more in key areas."