SOFIA (Bulgaria), June 28 (SeeNews) – Swedish industrial component manufacturer AQ Group has agreed to buy a site in western Bulgaria for € 5 million ($ 5.3 million) to set up a power cabinet factory in the country as it strives to strengthen its business.

The property, with an area of ​​22,000 square meters, is located in Pernik, near Sofia, AQ Group said in a statement on Monday.

The new facility will produce sheet metal houses and will be responsible for the electrical integration of large battery energy storage systems (BESS) for the grid.

By 2024, AQ Group intends to invest an additional two million euros for renovations and equipment at the Pernik plant, which is an existing factory about 50% ready to start work, says AQ Group’s CEO James Ahrgren to SeeNews.

The Swedish company plans to employ about 100 employees on the site next year, which potentially increases the number of employees to about 500 in the next few years depending on the growth rate, Ahrgren added.

AQ Group has already taken orders worth 12 million US dollars and expects to double that amount by 2023. The company expects the annual order volume to grow to 40 million US dollars by 2024, it says in its statement.

AQ Group has been present in Bulgaria since 1996 and has a total workforce of 1,500. AQ Group has sales, product development and production operations here and owns three local subsidiaries that operate five facilities in Sofia, Radomir, Godech, Kyustendil in western Bulgaria and Veliko Tarnovo. .

The listed Swedish company, which also has a small production facility in Serbia, also manufactures thermoplastic parts, piping systems, inductive components and system products such as parking ticket machines. It employs a total of about 7,000 people in all its locations, including China, India, Canada, the United States, Brazil and Germany, with over 80% in emerging markets outside Sweden.

The Group’s net sales in 2021 increased by 14% on an annual basis to SEK 5.47 billion (USD 543.6 million / EUR 513.4 million), with profit before tax increased by 19.5% to SEK 441 million. Sales in Bulgaria grew by more than 3% to SEK 32 million last year, AQ Group’s annual report shows.

Last year, AQ Group won new business with a global European supplier of battery storage systems for renewable energy.

($ = 0.9443 euros)