Lisbon, 15 February 2010 – The year that has passed was marked by the crisis in the global markets which has triggered a loss of purchasing power among consumers. According to GfK TEMAX®, there was a downturn of 5.3% to EUR 804 million compared to same period last year. The index has also recorded a decline of 10.8% to EUR 2.616 million for 2009 compared to 2008.

Sectors such as office equipment and consumables and information
technology recorded double digit downturns of 27.3% and 12.7%. In addition, photo, consumer electronics and telecommunication suffered declines of 2.3%, 2.2% and 2.1% respectively. On the other hand, the major domestic appliances sector and the small domestic had positive trends of 1.8% and 2.8%.