Romania Feed

Romanian's competition authority has authorized a deal allowing Rompetrol Downstream to take over operation rights on nine filling stations belonging to Comision Trade group.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) Group, which operates the Romanian capital market, reported a consolidated net profit of RON7.9 million in January-September 2020, up 18% on the year, and consolidated operating revenue of RON31.6 million, up 20% on the year, growth influenced by all business segments of the Group.

Romania's central bank on Thursday decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.5% a year, but lowered minimum reserve requirements on foreign currency liabilities to 5% from 6%.

Telekom Romania Group reported consolidated revenue of EUR244.1 million in the third quarter of 2020, stable compared with the same period in 2019, and its mobile services client base grew 9.8%.

Raiffeisen Bank, the local division of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank Group, ended the first nine months of 2020 with a net profit of RON583 million, up 9% on the year, and its total assets grew 17% to RON49.61 billion.

Romanian aircraft construction and repair firm Aerostar Bacau (ARS.RO) reported a net profit of RON40 million in the first nine months of 2020, down 5.5% on the year, and sales of RON224.8 million, down 15.7% from the same period in 2019.

Sphera Group (SFG.RO), which manages restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in Romania, ended the first nine months of 2020 with a net loss of RON4.7 million (excluding the impact of the adoption of IFRS 16), versus a profit of RON38.2 million in the same period in 2019, while restaurant sales reached RON502.4 million, down 27.6% on the year.

Linde Gaz Romania, the local subsidiary of Linde Plc, the largest industrial gas supplier worldwide, posted more than 683 million lei (about EUR144 million) revenue in 2019, an increase of 6.5% on the previous year, ZF has calculated from Finance Ministry data.

Romcarbon Buzau (ROCE.RO), one of the major plastic packaging producers in Romania, ended the first nine months of 2020 with a net profit of RON1.92 million, double against the same period in 2019, and with sales of RON137 million, down 3% on the year.

Farm and forestry equipment manufacturer IRUM Reghin is conducting a EUR9 million investment project to boost production capacity and create 50 new jobs.

Romania's nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica (SNN.RO) reported a net profit of RON477 million in the first nine months of 2020, up 14.8% on the year, and operating income of RON1.7 billion, down 1.8% on the year, per its quarterly report published Thursday on the stock market.

Deloitte Romania advised the Czech energy group CEZ in the sale of seven of its Romanian subsidiaries, active in electricity distribution, supply and renewables, to the infrastructure investor Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), one of the world’s leading alternative asset managers, owned by the Australian group Macquarie. The assets included in the transaction are CEZ Romania’s electricity distribution network, the electricity and gas supply business, with 1.4 million clients, and the largest onshore wind park in Europe, located in Fantanele–Cogealac. This is considered a landmark deal in the Romanian mergers and acquisitions market and the largest transaction in the energy sector in the last years. The agreement was signed at the end of October 2020 for an undisclosed amount and is subject to approval from the European Antitrust Authority and the Romanian Supreme Council of Defence.

Romanians spend some EUR5 billion on apparel, footwear and sporting goods a year and online sales used to account for about 10% of that until the pandemic, ZF has estimated based on market data.

Individual investors bought nearly RON300 million worth of Fidelis government bonds for the general population in the three days since the offer was launched.

E-commerce solutions provider 2Checkout, a business established in Romania 14 years ago, seeks to hire 100 technology experts at its innovation center in capital city Bucharest.

Amber, a 100% Romanian-owned game developing company, continues to expand internationally and has opened a new office in Montreal, Canada, focusing on engineering, localization and quality assurance.

Construction materials manufacturer Prefab Bucuresti (PREH.RO) on Wednesday reported a net profit of RON13.7 million for the first nine months of 2020, 11 times higher than the RON1.2 million reported in the same period last year.

Comarket, a marketplace B2B for the Romanian hospitality industry, will be listing Tuesday (Nov 17), on the SeedBlink crowdfounding platform, aiming to obtain a financing of EUR240,000, following an initial investment by its founders of EUR100,000.

Alfa Software, a provider of IT systems for companies, reported a nearly 10% increase in turnover in 2020, to EUR2.2 million, compared with a year before, according to company representatives.

E.ON Energie Romania, one of the largest utility suppliers on the local market, has so far installed some 100 public and private stations for electric vehicles, through the E.ON Drive project, most of which being located in capital Bucharest and the region of Moldavia.