Last year represented a period with many challenges for Adrem, a company with activities in the energy sector, arising from the legislative changes that affected the entire market. Despite the difficulties, the group ended 2019 with a total turnover of 40 million euros, and for 2020 it estimates an increase of 10%, based on the portfolio of contracts with a value of over 115 million euros. The Adrem Group, which includes three Romanian companies with energy specificity – Adrem Engineering, Adrem Invest and Adrem Link – has invested over 20 million euros in the last 5 years, in the development of electricity production capacities from renewable resources, machinery and equipment, IT solutions and in personnel development. For the next 4-5 years, the company’s management estimates that the evolution of the Adrem group will be solid, based on long-term contracts, and profitability will be increasing.
Adrem is a Romanian entrepreneurial company, part of the ABBC Group, which has subsidiaries on four continents, in countries such as China, Switzerland and the USA.
Interview with Corneliu Bodea (50 years old), CEO of the Adrem group and President of the Romanian Energy Center (CRE). The manager has 28 years of professional experience on the energy market.
– How did the company’s activity evolve in 2019 and how do you think it will develop in 2020?
– Despite the difficulties encountered on the energy and construction market in 2019, with a lot of work, involvement and dedication, we managed to achieve a large part of the proposed objectives, and this year we will continue our activities and identify solutions that will help us return to profit. We managed to maintain our turnover of 40 million euros, at the level of 2018, despite GEO 114. In 2019, we maintained our ability to contribute to maintaining the safety of the energy sector by offering complex services and products and by expanding the portfolio of products dedicated to end consumers. We estimate that this year we will have a 10% increase in turnover. We will resume the strategic objectives of 2019 and we will continue to be involved in major projects, especially general entrepreneurship and energy efficiency, in gas transmission and energy distribution infrastructure. We will also continue the strategic direction of diversifying the customer portfolio in the B2C area and, implicitly, developing services and products for energy end consumers, industrial, municipal or household.
– What impact did the application of GEO 114 have on the group?
– One of the biggest effects was the impact of the ordinance on our customers, which led to a chain decrease in the volume of works. With the measures imposed by law, our partners had to reduce the allocated budgets, which led to the budgets of our projects being affected. Thus, we had to adjust costs quarterly, rethink the business model and identify new development opportunities, such as diversifying the portfolio with energy efficiency products and solutions. However, it was also a good measure, which we also benefited from, namely the increase in the minimum wage in construction. It was advantageous because the main problem of the market was the lack of personnel, due to departures abroad. And in the future, I hope to see more beneficiaries and a positive effect on the economy. For Adrem, the impact of this measure was two million lei because we increased salaries in a chain to keep peace in the company and increase employee motivation. The amendment of the ordinance brings a new period of lack of predictability, although it was an absolutely necessary measure. We hope that this kind of hasty interventions in the economy will disappear in the future!
– What are the main projects you are working on and what projects did you contract in 2019?
– Among Adrem’s most important projects are the contracts for periods of four and eight years for the provision of services such as maintenance and management of metering groups, with some of the main energy and gas distributors – CEZ, E.ON, Enel and Electrica. We are also involved in major projects for the expansion and development of the gas transmission and energy distribution infrastructure: BRUA and complex SCADA automation solutions for SDEE Transilvania Sud. At the same time, in 2019 we focused on smart metering, smart grid and digital transformation projects. In addition, an important step we have taken is the diversification of the B2C portfolio with new energy efficiency products and solutions. Last year, we became one of the authorized installers of photovoltaic systems for individuals, within the “Green House” program, launched by the Environmental Fund Authority, and this year we will continue these activities to get back on track. In 2019, we contracted approximately 115 million euros, almost 10% more than the previous year. I estimate that in the next 4-5 years, the evolution of the Adrem group will be solid, based on long-term contracts, and profitability will be increasing.
– What are the future directions of action in order to develop the company?
– In the next period, we aim to increase the portfolio of B2C customers, maintaining the satisfaction of the current ones, and to be a reliable partner of the communities in which we operate. Recently, we have adopted a diversification strategy aimed at developing energy efficiency services and products both for energy users, such as municipalities, industrial and retail consumers, as well as for consumers in the residential sector and small office buildings. An important investment that we intend to make this year is the development of human resources. At the moment, we are working on an internal training program for staff from all departments and from all positions, and in the external environment we are involved in various programs for the development of students, high school students and entrepreneurs. Personally, I have an ambitious plan that I am pursuing and that brings me great satisfaction: to use my experience of almost 30 years of entrepreneurship to guide and inspire other entrepreneurs in turn. I hope that in this way I will make the smallest contribution to the evolution of business and to the modernization of our country.
– What are the difficulties and challenges you encounter in your work?
– The unpredictable legislative framework, such as GEO 114, is an example of a tough challenge that you can face as an entrepreneur, especially when you are talking about businesses with tens of millions of euros and hundreds or even thousands of employees. Following the ordinance, we were forced to reorganize at an extremely fast pace, because certain of its provisions targeted the area of constructions related to the network infrastructure, in which we also operate. These provisions pressured us to move hundreds of employees from one company to another overnight and to reorganize ourselves in order to be able to offer employees benefits at maximum value. Another challenge is, indeed, the labor shortage, which is becoming a critical topic, not so much in our company, but in the market as a whole. With Adrem, we managed to build a strong employer brand, in the vast majority of the areas where we are present, thus maintaining and even attracting new employees quite well, the staff turnover being 8%. We could not maintain this percentage without offering people a vision and together with the management team to inspire them for that vision. That is why, I believe that in the long term, Romania needs a vision and a concrete country plan through which to regain the trust of citizens, to show them what it can do for them and to give them confidence in the future.
– What expectations do you have from the future Government?
– I think the biggest expectation is to consolidate the market and ensure a predictable environment in which all players can carry out their activities safely. There is an acute lack of predictability that we, entrepreneurs, have become accustomed to, which has made us much more adapted to unforeseen situations. But this does not mean that we can continue like this indefinitely and, of course, in this way we cannot progress. Another expectation is the completion of the National Energy Strategy, a project in which I was also involved and which has been carried out over three governments and which is not yet applicable. In order to give confidence to Romanians and to develop sustainable projects that are also applicable, the current and future governments should create a country project that will bring us progress and the security of tomorrow.
The article can also be read on https://www.agendaconstructiilor.ro
