Romania Feed

Romania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 5.7% in April 2021, lower by 0.1% than the 5.8% level reported in April 2020, data from the country's statistics board showed Monday.

Help Net, the third leading actor on the pharmaceutical retail market in Romania, ended 2020 with RON1 billion sales, an increase of 32% on the previous year, ZF has calculated from the data the company supplied.

MOL Romania, the local subsidiary of Hungary’s MOL group, ended last year with RON5.54 billion (EUR1.15 billion) revenue, about 20% lower than in 2019, Finance Ministry data show.

Paint, coatings and other construction material manufacturer Daw Benta has begun construction of its face brick plant in Mures County. The investment stands at RON17.5 million and the manufacturer of state aid for it.

Romaqua Group, the largest local producer on the Romanian mineral water and beer market, had sales of RON841.5 million in 2020, just 0.3% lower on the year, despite the pandemic.

Romanian state-owned hydropower producer Hidroelectrica plans to invest massively in green energy in the next years, seeking to add 300 MW off-shore wind capabilities and 300 MW on-shore wind capabilities.

Optical Investment Group, owned by investment fund Innova Capital, has completed the merger with Optiplaza and Optical Network, acquired in 2019.

Delgaz Grid, German utility group E.ON's natural gas and electricity distribution company in Romania, is completing an investment project worth RON16.8 million, financed from EU funds, whereby Gorban, Pascani and Hirlau transformer stations in Iasi County were upgrade and integrated into SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition).

Chemical producer Chimcomplex Borzesti (CHOB.RO), which owns the Oltchim and Borzesti platforms, ended the first quarter of 2021 with a turnover of RON497 million, up 63% from RON307 million in the same period in 2019, and switched to a net profit of RON118 million in January-March 2021, from a loss of RON17.3 million in the year-earlier period.

German-owned discount retail chain Penny, which operates a network of almost 280 discount stores in Romania, seeks to extend its local partnerships in order to boost the number of stores with butcheries to 375 units until 2029 from 135 units at present.

Liberty Steel Group has appointed Aida Nechifor as the general manager of its Liberty Galati plant in Romania, the company announced Friday.

Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) has summoned the ordinary general meeting of shareholders on July 16, 2021 to approve the payment of a special gross dividend of RON0.07 per share, with the total amount reaching RON504 million.

Real estate developer Impact Developer & Contractor, held by entrepreneur Gheorghe Iaciu, has signed two mortgage loan agreements with CEC Bank worth a total EUR13.4 million, and the funds will be used to fund the construction of the Boreal Plus residential project it is developing in northern Constanta.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), which operates the local capital market, on Friday said the senior non-preferred bonds issued by Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), worth RON1 billion, will start trading on Bucharest Stock Exchange’s Main Market, under the ticker symbol BCR28, on Monday (May 31).

Romania’s finance ministry has launched a new state aid scheme for investments of over RON500 million, aiming to attract 15 large-scale projects. The maximum budget of the state aid scheme is RON3.75 billion (EUR750 million), of which the annual amount reaches RON750 million (EUR150 million).

Lukoil Romania, the company that operates the retail business and the 320 gas stations of Russia’s Lukoil group in Romania, ended last year with RON5.9 billion (some EUR1.23 billion) revenue, a decline of over 20% from the RON7.6 billion of 2019.

Croissant, biscuit and wafer maker Alka Trading ended 2020 with RON231.5 million (almost EUR50 million) revenue, an increase of about 2% year-on-year, ZF has calculated from the data the company supplied for the latest edition of the “Cei mai mari jucatori din economie” (Key players in the economy) yearbook.

Ursus Breweries, the largest brewer in Romania, expects sales to revert to 2019 levels this year, says sales vice president Gabriela Cretu, once the restrictions have been lifted and the hospitality industry reopens for business, as well as because the events that might take place.

Paval Holding, the financial investment vehicle of brothers Adrian and Dragos Paval – who own DYI retail chain Dedeman, reported a net profit of RON3.3 billion in 2020, according to Confidas.ro data.

Romania's general consolidated budget posted a deficit of RON20.7 billion in January-April, or 1.81% of the gross domestic product, lower compared with RON26.8 billion, or 2.54% of GDP, in the same period last year, when the economy was mostly shut down by the pandemic.