One of the largest businesses set up after 1990 by the spouses Dan and Camelia Şucu - Mobexpert - later was involved in the most expensive divorce in Romania. The Şucu spouses split several years before the crisis. Following the divorce, Mrs. Camelia Șucu received over 30 million Euros, which she is now looking to invest in various businesses, from agriculture, to medicine and luxury furniture.
On the other hand, sales of the "Mobexpert" group, which remained the property of Dan Şucu, are severely affected by the economic crisis.
* The company"s sales dropped 21% last year
The strong depreciation of the leu in 2009 led caused the aggregated sales of the "Mobexpert" group to drop almost 115 million Euros, said Dan Şucu, the chairman of "Mobexpert".
While the company expected its sales to only drop 10% in 2009, as the prices in lei of its products remained at their 2008 levels, the market circumstances led to a drop of 21% over 2008. Annual retail sales dropped 17% for the home furniture and decorations division, while the sales of the office furniture divisions dropped almost 30%, said Mr. Şucu, who mentioned that Mobexpert currently has 2,200 employees.
The "Mobexpert" group includes ten retail companies, eight furniture factories, six import companies and three services companies (IT, logistics and R&D).
The contraction of the retail segment, the fact that the prices in lei remained at their 2008 levels, as well as the incomplete use of the output capacities due to shrinking demand caused the profit of "Mobexpert" to drop to zero in 2009.
* Last year, "Mobexpert" factories operated at half their operating capacity
The group"s production area also felt the effects of the unfavorable economic environment. According to Dan Şucu, "the shrinking demand on the regional furniture market led was accompanies by a drop in
