Horațiu Țepeș wants to take roofing manufacturer Bilka Steel to a business of over RON 1 billion in 2021

Horațiu Țepeș, the entrepreneur who owns Bilka Steel, a metal roofing company, aims to exceed RON 1 billion turnover in 2021, after significantly having approached this threshold last year.

“Bilka ended 2020 with a turnover of RON 795 million (EUR 163 million), 20% higher compared to 2019, when its turnover was RON 655 million. The financial results are in line with the goals set at the beginning of 2020. Our goal for 2021 is to exceed the turnover threshold of RON 1 billion. The investments made in the development of production capacities and the growth of the product range, together with the nationally developed distribution network and the market demand are the main factors we rely on to achieve this goal”, says Horațiu Țepeș.

Although the start of the pandemic brought a drop in sales for Bilka in March and April 2020, a drop caused by the state of emergency, since May business has recovered and sales have started to pick up.

“2020 was a difficult year in which the pandemic was by far the biggest challenge for everyone, companies, employees, institutions or governments. For us in 2020, managing investments in the new context, adapting to new conditions and especially uncertainty have become part of our daily work. The fact that over the years we have had a sound growth strategy and a long-term strategy has helped us during this period not to have to take drastic measures at business level.”

Bilka Steel currently employs 550 people, both in the production process and TESA staff

“We are continuing to recruit in almost all departments, so by the end of 2021 we expect to reach 600 employees,” adds Horațiu Țepeș.

Bilka is now in the process of building a new insulated panels factory, part of a wider investment plan totaling EUR 25 million. Two years ago, the company acquired the industrial platform Hidromecanica 2 Brașov, next to the halls it already owned, in order to expand.

“For Bilka, we expect that 2021 will bring a new factory. If there are no more bureaucratic bottlenecks for authorizations, by the end of the year we should have completed the last investment stage of the programme started in 2017, totaling over EUR 25 million. Thus, this year for us the priority is to invest in the inauguration of the insulated panels factory.”

Besides the investments in the production area, the company continues this year as well with the increase the degree of digitization in order to streamline processes.

“The pandemic reiterated our need for adaptability to new conditions and the need for sound business strategies that can withstand an external shock.”

From 2 employees to 600

Horațiu Țepeș created the business in the year before the financial crisis. An engineer by profession, he started the Bilka Steel business 14 years ago, at a time that was not ideal for a construction business, on an immature market dominated by multinationals with decades of experience in the field.

After graduating from university, Țepeș worked for four years at the Slovak company Rova, which was later taken over by the Swedes Lindab, with whom he now competes. In 2007, Rova was to be sold, which is why Horațiu Țepeș made the decision to set out on his own on the road to entrepreneurship.

Thus, Țepeș started the Bilka Steel business together with a colleague, with the money he earned at his first job, the Rova company.

Bilka started with two employees, a metal roof tile production line and a 4,500 square meter hall, at the doors of which the economic crisis was knocking. For the opening of the factory in Brașov, the investment was made with own funds and amounted to EUR 200,000.

The company is named after a village in Bulgaria. A short, impactful name was needed, and when he chose it, Țepeș was in his office with a map of Europe on the wall and the brand was born.

The roofing market is poised for growth next year, according to industry players, who are calculating even a small advance over last year or at a slower pace, no doubt an advance. Demand for more expensive, premium products will become increasingly high, they add, and the balance will shift between consumption for new constructions and the one for renovations, a ZF analysis shows.

The local market for building envelopes reached EUR 237 million in 2019, up 10% compared to the previous year, according to Neomar Consulting data. By comparison, ten years ago, in 2009, the market was worth EUR 125.9 million. Thus, in a decade, the sector has grown by 88%. The center and north of the country are the regions attracting the highest demand for roofing on the local market, Neomar data shows.

In 2019, metal roofing accounted for the largest share of the total market, controlling nearly EUR 159 million. (….)

Article published in Ziarul Financiar, on 8th February 2021, author: Alina-Elena Vasiliu