Lux: Possible investment in a new factory in Tripoli – Re-placing of Cola

In an investment for new soft drinks production, the Vice President of the soft drinks and juice company “Marlafekas SAE”, Plato Marlafekas, as he said at yesterday’s (22.11.2024) press meeting of GREECE – OURS. In particular, Mr. Marlafekas noted his interest in a second soft drinks factory in Tripoli. Speaking of Lux’s new investments, he said he is currently waiting to see the features of the new development bill and whether a second cycle of development plans will come out through the Fair Development Transition Plan, to better judge a potential investment in a factory. “It is something we may have delayed,” he commented on. At the same time, he stressed the need for a strategic investor by showing that there are talks at an early level about an entry of a strategic investor, but not funding. “Our company since 2008 has no loans, we are not looking for someone to put money into the company. We have so many available of our own that we could build a factory without taking a loan that says the reason,” the Vice President of Lux explained, saying: “We would like a strategic investor (and perhaps better a foreigner), who could help the company to “enlarge” by opening new markets abroad.” Replacing Cola – Turning to aluminium In 2025, the Vice President of Lux announced that they are preparing to re-plasticize Cola with a new packaging and improved taste, but also releasing aluminum packaging, saying: “We’ll probably also be in the metal box, in aluminium, in 2025”. It is worth noting that Lux has on the market ten kinds of soft drinks, three types of soft drinks plus n’ light (lemonade, orangeade, Cola Lux), four types of juice, iced tea and bottled water Dirfis. As for the stevia product group, he said that sales have not gone well in Greece. “Personally I don’t understand why, while they are more natural products. They are much more expensive in production than classics and we try to find ways to help them more.” “We reduced to 1% tax contributions, but the price increases are more than 1% we will pay. There is no business in Greece that wants to have an expensive product on the shelf,” noted Mr. Marlafekas. A major problem, according to him, is also the expensive operating costs of supermarkets in relation to Europeans, explaining: “This is because every store in Greece serves less people than a store in a developed country. It could be 1/10″. Profitability, cash flow, investments and return on investments In 2021, Lux first recorded in her history damage due to energy costs and raw materials. However, in 2022 and 2023 it returned to profitability. In particular, in 2023 Lux’s turnover amounted to EUR 35,8 million and in 2024 it will reach EUR 40 million. “Close to 10% we will have an increase in both turnover and profitability,” stressed Mr Marlafekas. “What matters is that wholesale has gone up a lot to us. Every share we get from the market we’ve earned from it. In the first semester we went close to 7% – 9% in volume,” he added.