Romania carmaker Dacia ups net profit by almost a quarter, total sales reach EUR 4.16 bln after merger

Romania carmaker Automobile Dacia, which is part of French group Renault, announced that its net profit grew by 22 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, to RON 337 million (EUR 76 million), according to the company’s yearly report. Dacia’s total sales went up by 44 percent, to RON 18.4 billion (EUR 4.16 billion). The sales increase was influenced by the absorption-merger of Renault Industrie Roumanie, a company that was also controlled by Renault, and which was specialized in selling car kits (CKD) produced in Romania to be assembled abroad. CKD sales contributed RON 6.35 billion (EUR 1.44 billion) to Dacia total revenues last year, according to the report. Assembled car sales were up 7.7 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, to over RON 10 billion (EUR 2.26 billion), out of which almost 93 percent were export sales. Dacia’s export sales of completed vehicles grew by 8 percent, while local sales increased by 3.8 percent, to about RON 730 million (EUR 165 million). Dacia is by far Romania’s largest exporter. In 2013, the company’s total exports (assembled cars plus CKDs) amounted to a total of EUR 3.55 billion, which is over 7 percent of total Romanian exports, which reached a record level of EUR 49.5 billion last year. The number of Dacia automobiles sold last year grew by 34,200 units to 343,177 units. The largest contribution to this increase came from the new generations of the Dacia Logan (101,600 units sold) and Dacia Sandero (113,855 units). Sales for the Dacia Duster SUV were slightly lower at close to 120,000 units, compared to 133,250 units. In addition to these, the company sold 1.23 million CKDs, which are completely knocked down cars that are shipped away and assembled in other countries such as Morocco, Colombia and Russia. Most CDKs sold are for the Sandero and Duster models. Production of assembled cars in Dacia’s Mioveni plant near Pitesti was up 11.5 percent last year, to 342,874 units. The company announced at the beginning of May the production of the 5 millionth car at Mioveni. Dacia’s number of employees grew by 338 last year, to over 14,100. The company’s personnel expenditures were up 17.6 percent last year, to over RON 1 billion (EUR 241 million). Dacia is one of the largest employers in Romania after oil and gas company OMV Petrom. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com