Even though the sales decreased due to lower demand resulting from the announced quarantine and downtime, the third quarter brought in better results. Yet, the sales by the ninth month of the year were 8% lower compared to the 238.7 million euro received last year.
Catching up on lost time
“The furniture manufactured by the SBA Group are exported to nearly half a hundred countries in Asia, Europe and America. Our sales are directly dependent on the pandemic and the limitations set upon the export markets. The COVID-19 situation improved in the summer and certain restrictions were called off. Buyers returned to their usual habits, boosting the demand for our products. We compensate for the losses we work as hard as we can. Within the last quarter, we managed to catch up and reduce the difference from our last year sales by half, i.e. from 17% to 8%. However, we still feel the scars left behind by quarantine,” said Egidijus Valentinavičius, Vice-President of the SBA Group.
Vice-President of the SBA Group said that the five companies of the SBA Furniture Group had been quickly catching up on lost time after focusing on the safety and efficiency of their employees following the nearly two-month-long quarantine. Šilutės Baldai (27.6 million euro) and Germanika (38 million euro) have already reached the same results as last year and successfully compensated for the losses during the pandemic. Both companies are located in Šilutė Region and belong to the SBA Group. Even though Visagino Linija and Klaipėdos Baldai increased their sales in the third quarter as well, their sales by the ninth month were lower compared to the last year.
The company based in Klaipėda had sales of almost 58 million euro, which is 12% less than the result of 2019 at the same time, i.e. 66 million euro. Visagino Linija reported export sales of 54 million euro, which is 18% less than the result of last year. The sales of Mebelain based in Belarus decreased by 6% and reached 23 million euro. Kauno Baldai, focused on soft furniture, rapidly increased its sales in the new market in Germany and had 15.3 million euro of gross sales by the ninth month of the year, which was almost the same as last year.
No fewer challenges, but carefully controlled risks
According to E. Valentinavičius, the companies coming back to the market after the quarantine focus on the safety of their staff. All employees with no exclusions wear face masks, their temperature is checked when they come into work, employee flows are regulated, lunch and rest breaks are planned as to avoid crowding, and the common facilities are disinfected.
“We are ready and intend to work on maximum settings this entire last quarter of the year. Still, in the light of the worsening situation in the world, we might be soon facing challenges in our raw material supply chain. We are controlling all the risks as much as possible,” said the Vice-President of the SBA Group.
Further investments into technologies and human resources
Despite the turbulent times, the SBA Furniture Group continues to reopen and invest in efficiency and capacity development. By the end of the year, Laminn, a new furniture billet manufacturer being built in the SBA Technology and Innovation Park near Klaipėda, will gradually join the manufacturing process. Meanwhile, Klaipėdos Baldai are planning to complete a large investment project. Novel robotization and automatization projects are under discussion for the next year with the goal to further increase manufacturing efficiency.
Also, in spite of the challenges presented by COVID-19, the SBA Group is planning to review employee salaries and to increase them by up to 5% on average. The goal to retain the existing workplaces remain one of the priorities for the corporate group. At the moment, over 3300 employees work in the companies of the SBA Furniture Group in Lithuania.
The SBA Group is among the largest corporate groups in Lithuania engaged in RE, textile and furniture manufacturing. Over 5000 people are employed in the companies that are members of the SBA Group. In addition to Kauno Baldai, the SBA Furniture Group also owns SBA Baldų Kompanija which in turn manages Klaipėdos Baldai, Šilutės Baldai, Germanika, Visagino Liniją and Mebelain. This year, the construction of Laminn, manufacturer of furniture parts, will be completed in the SBA Technology and Innovation Park. The SBA Textile Group is comprised of Utenos Trikotažas and its subsidiaries Šatrija and Marija. The SBA Group also controls the RE innovation company called Urban Inventors, which is developing the Green Hall in Vilnius and BLC Offices in Kaunas. The SBA Group also owns investment management company titled Capitalica Asset Management, which controls Kauno Dokas Offices in Kaunas, 135 Offices in Vilnius and Verde Modern Office Complex in Skanste District, Riga. Last year, the SBA Group acquired Robotex, a company offering robotics and automation solutions, and established SBA Modular, which is focused on modular multistory sustainable buildings.
