Factoring is one of the measures taken by Alro’s Board to counter the crisis, and, according to Nastase, this was a right decision. For 2009, the aluminum producer is considering outsourcing non-core services, which will result in a 10 percent cut in personnel.
At the end of last week, Alro Slatina posted RON 389 million ($118.7 mln, some €92.86 mln) in net sales, down 22 percent year-on-year, and a net income worth RON 27.3 mln ($8.3 mln, some €6.5 mln), four times less than the result in the first quarter of 2008.
Alro returned to profit in the first three months of this year, considering the company posted losses worth some $16 mln (some €11.77 mln) in the final quarter of 2008, due to the financial crisis.
The company focused on freezing investments, liquidating stocks, renegotiating acquisition prices and payment deadlines, laying off employees, and closing or reducing high-cost capacities. “Investments will limit to $6.5 million this year. The 25 percent cut in production, decided upon at the end of 2008, remains valid throughout 2009. This measure, together with a flexible sales policy, allowed us to bring back to normal the stocks that were triple in December 2008,” said Nastase.
