Romanian electronics and IT&C market will have this year the same value as in 2007 – 1.1 billion euros, due to the international financial crisis, and in first half next year, it will plummet by 15%-20%.

“Although we have initially estimated a 10-15% growth margin for the electronics and IT&C market, up to 1.2 – 1.3 billion euros, the last part of this year revealed forecasts error, and the market will remain at last year’s level. For next year, we estimate a 20% decline for H1 and a major recovery in the second half,” said Dragos Simion (photo), president of Flamingo International.

Financial crisis has lead to a revision of Flamingo International’s forecasts for this year downward to 200 million euros from 210 million euros.

“The figures estimated for this yearend, were revised downwards by approximately 5%, although the market remains extremely volatile and as a result, the value of sales for December is difficult to approximate. Therefore, Flamingo Group International expects 200 million euros in sales for 2008”, Flamingo representatives said.

The company reported 143 million euros revenues for first nine months, up 56% from a year ago.

The distribution division registered a 120% growth from one year ago, while retail division rose 32%.

Operating profit amounted to 0.5 million euros for the aforementioned interval, and for the end of this year, the company hopes for positive results.

“Despite the promising results, we see the current performance of Flamingo International amid financial crisis as one of our major concerns. This is the reason why we implemented strict financial management actions in all our divisions. The market is highly instable at this point, due to financial crisis, but also due to regulations enforced by Romanian authorities on the new lending conditions, which affect the group’s sales”, said Jiri Rize