Romania Feed

Coffee shop chain Ted’s Coffee, owned by Romanian entrepreneur Vasi Andreica, will be opening three new coffee shops, in capital city Bucharest, in September 2021.

Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) President, Radu Hanga, on Thursday said the local stock market operator notified the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) regarding the creation of an index for the AeRO market, which is expected to be launched over the next 30 days.

French fintech iBanFirst, which operates an online platform enabling companies to conduct fast transactions in over 30 currencies, is expanding into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), by opening its first office in the region, in Romania’s capital city of Bucharest.

The Romanian leu plunged to a new all-time low against the euro on Thursday (September 2), as the central bank average reference rate stood at 4.9386 lei to the European currency.

Steel mill Liberty Galati (former Sidex Galati) had a turnover of RON4.15 billion in the first half of 2021, per calculations by Ziarul Financiar (ZF) based on company data, compared with a turnover of RON4.7 billion for full-year 2020.

Industrial production prices for the domestic and non-domestic markets grew by 2.3% in July 2021 versus June 2021 and by nearly 14% in July 2021 versus July 2020, data from Romania’s statistics board INS showed Thursday.

New car registrations in Romania grew by 7.5% on the year, to a total 79,320 units, in January-August 2021, data from the association of automotive manufacturers in Romania (ACAROM) showed Thursday.

DIY retailer Dedeman, the largest entrepreneurial business in Romania, controlled by brothers Adrian and Dragos Paval, is due to open this week its 56th store, in Blejoi, Prahova County.

All large banks in Romania reported higher profits for 1H/2020 against the same period in 2020 amid weakening pandemic fallout and declining risk and provision costs, but also in the wake of rising lending and revenues.

Serban Radu, co-founder of bookstore chain Carturesti, says online sales increased significantly last year amid the closure of physical bookstores amid the pandemic, but their reopening was not accompanied by a decline in online revenues.

Revenues generated by the company managing Bucharest Intercontinental hotel dropped by 16% in the first half of this year, to just RON8.4 million.

ProdLacta, a major player on Romania’s dairy market, in the first six months of this year generated net profit worth RON441,000, down 49.5% from the first half of 2020, according with ZF calculations based on the half-year report the company filed with the BSE.

Bacau-based Simba Invest, a major consumer goods distributor in Romania, in 2020 generated turnover worth around RON495.9 million (EUR102.9 million), up 10% from the previous year, in line with ZF calculations based on Finance Ministry data.

Gameloft Romania, a videogame developer and publisher established more than a decade ago, saw its revenue increase by about 3% last year, when people had to spend more time in their homes to avoid getting Covid-19. The revenue therefore stood at more than EUR22.7 million in 2020.

Bearings manufacturer Timken Romania, the local subsidiary of US’ Timken group, posted about RON492.6 million (EUR102.2 million) revenue in 2020, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year, ZF has calculated from Finance Ministry data.

Daniela Covacescu, with over 20 years of experience in the field of financial-banking and insurance, was recruited by Allianz-Ţiriac Asigurari for the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Irina Ionescu, the former communications director at Coca-Cola HBC Romania, has taken over as general manager of GreenPoint Management, an organization that implements the extended producer responsibility (OIREP), and will be actively involved in the future development of companies in the same Group, per data from Green Point representatives.

The volume of foreign trade between Romania and Germany saw a significant rebound in the first half of 2021, growing by 20.5% from the same period in 2020, up to EUR16.4 billion, per estimates by officials of the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Romania), citing the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Romanian vacuum cleaner and home appliances manufacturer Electroarges (ELGS.RO) had a net profit of RON1.3 million in January-June 2021, from a loss of RON9.5 million in the same period in 2020, amid sales revenue of RON132.5 million, up 11.7% on the year, per calculations by Ziarul Financiar based on data from the company's half-year financial report.

Insolvent Romanian fiber optic cable producer Romcab Targu-Mures (MCAB.RO), in 1H/2021 hit net profit worth RON13.4 million, against RON14.4 million losses in 1H/2020, amid operating revenues of RON861.7 million, 120.1% higher than in the year-earlier period, in line with ZF calculations based on the company’s 1H report.