UPS Bulgarian unit investing 1.5 Mln Euro in office and warehouses

In Time, a Bulgarian unit of U.S. courier giant UPS, is investing three million levs ($1.8 million/1.5 million euro) in its own office building and warehouses to reinforce logistics services, a company official said on Tuesday.

The company is building the facility near the airport in the capital Sofia and hopes to complete it at the beginning of next year, In Time head Zheni Belopitova told reporters.

In Time has been operating in rented premises in Sofia since 1990 when it entered the Bulgarian market. The company saw its turnover rising by an average 20% every year in the past 15 years, Belopitova said.

In Time launched half a month ago logistics services in co-operation with UPS Supply Chain Solutions (UPS SCS). The warehouses will secure the efficiency of the services, which allow Bulgarian businesses to use 400 UPS offices in 120 countries worldwide, In Time said.

UPS SCS has attracted some 170 Bulgarian clients so far. UPS SCS recorded $2.8 billion revenue worldwide last year.

In Time expects its revenue from international courier services to rise by 18% to 20% this year, and the revenue from domestic courier services to increase by 24%, Belopitova said. The company had a total revenue of 10 million levs in 2004.

In Time’s biggest competitors in offering international courier services to the Bulgarian market are DHL, TNT and FedEx. The leading local courier companies include Speedy, Interlogistica, City Express and logistics centre Econt.

Bulgaria’s courier services market grew by an annual 20% last year. The bulk of Bulgarians, however, still rely on postal services and rarely use courier firms. That is why most courier firms focus on the corporate clients.

In Time has over 30 offices in the country, but has no plans to raise their number. The company has over 23,000 clients, most of them corporations, including the local units of big foreign companies like Cisco, IBM, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, Aventis Pharma and Novartis.

(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)

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