RHS: For the first time in its history, November sales were lower than October

“The government has frozen all projects, banks are no longer granting loans, and consumers have cut expenses. All these factors led to a drop in sales. The IT distribution market decreased an annual 30 percent in mid-October. We have never faced a crisis before. We have never registered a sales level in November lower than in October,” Dragos Popescu, RHS Company’s General Manager, told Business Standard.

Total sales could amount to $30.6 million (€23.6 mln) in December 2008, according to Business Standard’s calculations, considering that RHS posted sales worth some $36 mln (€27.8 mln) in the last month of 2007.

According to company officials, sales rose 25 percent in this year’s first quarter, and by 11 percent in Q3, far below the initial estimates. The company has based its 2009 budget on a RON 4/€1 exchange rate.

Popescu said that the local IT distribution market has not increased in terms of value in 2008 but registered a 10-15 percent rise in terms of volume.