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Eric Kish (44), who become one of the key people of the development of
Rompetrol group right from the moment Dinu Patriciu recruited him ten
years ago, says that now, as he steps down as retail vice-president, he
leaves behind a business division in crisis. He is also not afraid to
point out a few problems, as well.
"We have 180 franchised stations, but this segment is experiencing
big liquidity problems. Approximately 25% of these partners may go
bankrupt, which will show in the total as an about 3% decline in our
volumes. We are trying to help them, but most have loans for other
businesses in which we are not interested," Eric Kish explains. He will
take over the position of vice-president for service companies and
support functions of the group on April 1, a segment developed mostly
outside Romania. Considering the turnover registered on Rompetrol’s
distribution segment in 2008, 2.5 billion dollars, this reduction in
the number of Rompetrol’s partners would mean an about 75
million-dollar decline of revenues. Rompetrol has about 450 filling
stations on the Romanian market.
However, Kish says that the division he has run until now is
well-prepared to face the crisis, as most of the restructuring has
already been completed, along with the salary cuts or the creation of
services to meet clients looking for cost reductions halfway.
"We have crisis on the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We are
trying to manage it as well as we can, but our advantage compared with
the competition is that crisis is a way of life for Rompetrol, a modus
vivendi," Kish says.
Eric Kish was brought to Rompetrol in 1998 and was one of Patriciu’s
first employees. In 2001, at only 36, he took the position of chief
executive officer of the Petromidia refinery, which he kept until 2005.
It was during his tenure that the refinery, the hardcore of the entire
Rompetrol group went through its most important transformations. When
Kish came onboard, Rompetrol had 11 petrol stations, and now, at the
end of his retail vice-president term, it has 450 local stations and
international operations.
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