The speech of the President on the 45th anniversary of Dromeas

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends and partners, thank you, your presence honors us.

As you know, DROMEAS is a family business. Therefore, I will begin its historical journey by presenting our family.

In the photo, we see our parents with their five children, born before and after the difficult years of the German occupation.

Our father was a farmer and had developed substantial rice farming and livestock fattening businesses.

He was universally accepted and recognized in the region for his dynamic and honest character. He was elected twice as president of the community of Provata with about 90% of the vote.

Three of the five siblings pursued higher education. I am a civil engineer, Yiannis a mathematics professor, and Toula a dentist.

The two eldest, George and Stella, interrupted their studies to support us younger ones, together with our father, after we suddenly lost our mother at the age of 33.

Ten out of the twelve children (of the five siblings) hold university degrees.

DROMEAS was founded by the three brothers: George, myself (Sakis), and Yiannis.

Before founding DROMEAS, George was involved in agriculture and general fuel trading, I was a civil engineer working in construction, and Yiannis was involved in tutoring and car imports.

All our businesses and activities shared a common acceptance and a common fund, with our father as an informed overseer, who continued his own entrepreneurial activities so that, as he said, he could support any of our needs if something went wrong.

DROMEAS was founded in 1979 with the aim of producing folding caravans, inspired after the great Thessaloniki earthquake by a caravan whose side walls unfolded while stationary, significantly increasing its space.

We designed a caravan with two side walls that unfolded, creating two rooms on the right and left of the central chassis, tripling the usable area when stationary.

At the same time as founding DROMEAS, we submitted an investment plan for inclusion in the development law.

In 1980, we started the first investment.

In 1981, the PASOK government suspended all inclusions under the development law for reassessment.

In 1982, we continued. We passed the great test!

Production and distribution of caravans began in 1982. The caravans had innovative construction with solid walls that allowed high speeds due to lack of vibrations.

In the next 2-3 years, 1983-1985, we conquered the Greek market, reaching 700 caravans per year.

However, in 1986, we decided to stop caravan production because we could not secure the working capital needed since we accumulated production all year but sold over 2 to 3 months.

Another key problem was that imported parts had much higher duties than imported finished caravans.

Instead of caravans, we chose to produce office furniture, which seemed easier but turned out more difficult because it required thousands of codes.

Our first major success was in 1987 when OTE (Hellenic Telecommunications Organization) announced a tender for office furniture and chairs for 4,700 workstations.

Despite being newcomers, DROMEAS won the tender to everyone’s surprise.

Our experience in manufacturing caravans and our upgraded managerial team ensured this success.

During the 1990s, as we were not well known to the general public, we focused more on public tenders, banks, etc., including renovation and creation of hundreds of new bank branches in Greece and abroad.

Also, the collapse of the Eastern bloc gave us a boost, as the state-owned enterprises were replaced by private companies that initially demanded space and furniture.

DROMEAS capitalized on this situation and quickly expanded into the Bulgarian market.

The 1990s were a growth period with new technology investments. Sales reached €11.2 million by the decade’s end, which, combined with other indicators, allowed us to apply for listing on the stock exchange, which we achieved in November 2000.

From the listing, we raised €23.5 million by granting 23.8% of the shares.

This capital boost allowed us to start in 2001 vertical integration of production with new investments in wood processing, metal, aluminum casting, plastics, metal painting, and mold manufacturing.

This decision was based on the fact that the Greek manufacturing industry in our sector could not supply us with quality sub-products.

The vertical integration effort was arduous because we had to select and negotiate many dozens of key machines and also become familiar with and incorporate them into the production process.

The total cost of vertical integration investments from 2001 to 2009 exceeded €40 million. When the investments were completed and we expected sales to increase, the economic crisis started in Greece. The office furniture sector collapsed, leading large companies to bankruptcy or survival struggles to this day.

Our sales fell to 40% of what they were in 2004.

That same year, we won a European Union tender worth about €40 million for the next five years. It was a lifeline.

This success was repeated in 2015 and 2021, so we have been exclusive suppliers to the EU from 2009 to 2027.

Similar successes occurred with the German army from 2013, winning tenders worth over €100 million so far.

In these tenders, which follow European and international standards, leading companies from Europe and America participate, whose products must be certified by recognized EU institutes.

These successes are mainly due to:

Vertical integration of production

The international patents acquired by DROMEAS (more than 30)

The staff of DROMEAS, especially the technical and production heads.

Until today, no Greek company has exported office furniture. DROMEAS exports 75% of its production, competing with the top international companies in the sector.

Some key figures from the company’s journey from inception to today:

Employees increased from 30 to 340

Covered space from 600 sq.m to 50,000 sq.m

Sales from €0.15 million to €32 million

EBITDA from €20,000 to €7.5 million

At the same time, we continue investing in new machinery at a rate of €1.5 million per year. In the last five years, we invested €6.5 million, creating new products targeting major foreign markets like AMAZON, the French company OFFICE DEPOT, the German company AZ OFFICE SOLUTIONS, CERN, and American construction companies.

The large number of employees relative to total sales is due to vertical integration, which yields EBITDA greater than 20% of sales.

We expect EBITDA soon to exceed 25%, with sales reaching €40 million.

CEO Kostis Papapanagiotou will present the continuation of the journey, the company’s plans, and goals for the coming years.

I would like to close by mentioning some individuals who selflessly helped DROMEAS along the way and are of great value.

First, my brothers George and Yiannis, with whom we started and developed DROMEAS through joint effort and struggle.

Achilleas Karamanlis, who helped start DROMEAS when I explained our plans to establish a production unit in Serres; he intervened, without hesitation, with the then investment bank ETBA for financing, despite knowing I was a significant PASOK member.

The late Sotiris Grigoriadis, Director of ETBA Thessaloniki, who contributed decisively to financing the company’s first investment plan.

Nikos Karamouzis, CEO of Eurobank in 2000, who undertook the completion of our stock market listing after the main advisor resigned.

After the successful listing, when I asked Mr. Karamouzis for the shares account to deposit a certain number as a token of thanks, he replied:

“I don’t need it. I am paid by the bank.”

Panagiotis Kontalexis, who at the same time bought a significant amount of shares and still holds them today.

The late Takis Iliadis, owner of SELMAN, who, when I visited him the penultimate day before our stock market listing, put up a significant amount ensuring our listing. He even reprimanded me for coming late to ask for his help.

The staff of DROMEAS and the initial shareholders.

My then secretary Konstantina Karampela, who insisted we participate in the European Commission tender in 2009 when I was reluctant. She convinced me, we participated, and won.

Christodoulos Antoniadis, who as Deputy CEO of Piraeus Bank financed our photovoltaic investments of 2.5 MW when all other banks refused.

The systemic banks Alpha Bank, Piraeus, National, Eurobank, and Attica that participated in the bond loan and subsequently supported working capital.

Also invaluable was the support of the local Cooperative Bank of Serres, which in cooperation with the export credit insurance organization financed DROMEAS mainly during the economic crisis.

Optima Bank, which actively finances the company’s foreign projects in the last five years.

Ladies and gentlemen, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the journey of DROMEAS deserves to be studied, evaluated, and serve as an example of manufacturing industry, confirming the statement of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit, that “DROMEAS expresses the Government’s ultimate vision for Greek entrepreneurship.”