Romania Feed

Investments in Romanian startups have registered a twelvefold increase in the past six years, to EUR101.1 million, with Romania thus ranking fifth in Central and Eastern Europe by investments raised by startups, after Estonia, Czechia, Croatia and Poland, reveals Romanian Venture Report created by How to Web jointly with KPMG Romania and KPMG Legal, now at its third edition.

CreditAmanet, a provider of pawnbroking and money exchange services, posted 30% higher revenues in 2022 on the year and saw its profit rise by 20%.

Adrian Urda, CEO of Cometex, a retail park developer part of Altex group, says the company plans to carry out retail investments of above EUR200 million by 2025.

Craiova-based Softronic, Eastern Europe’s sole producer of electrical multiple units and locomotives, controlled by four Romanian entrepreneurs, ended 2022 with turnover worth almost RON200 million as the plant operated at full capacity.

Nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica (SNN.RO) placed with Romania’s import-export bank Eximbank a term deposit without extension in the amount of RON105.06 million, the company informed its shareholders and investors via a report to the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Jan 26, 2023.

BICO Industries, part of building materials holding ROCA Industry, estimates a consolidated turnover of over EUR30 million for 2022 after it completed the acquisition of the company Terra Impex based in the Republic of Moldova.

The furniture industry, one of Romania’s main export sectors, saw a 2% decline in production in the first ten months of 2022 as compared to the same period of 2021, amid price increases and loss of customers against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine which “erased” customers from Russia.

Romania’s airports reported a total 21 million passengers for 2022, 87.53% more than in 2021 and almost threefold more than in 2020, in line with data from the Romanian Airports Association, or AAR.

Romanian business managers expect relative stability of activity and in the number of employees in manufacturing and services sectors, alongside robust price increases in retail trade, in line with a survey by the country’s statistical board INS.

Retailers are preparing for a possible economic crisis, according to an analysis by Romanian email marketing agency White Image.

Blugento, a company based in Cluj-Napoca and specialized in providing e-commerce solutions based on the Magento platform, expects a 40% increase in turnover at the end of 2023.

The National Commission for Strategy and Prognosis (CNSP) said in its winter forecast that it expects a slowdown in Romania’s economic growth to 2.8% in 2023 and a significant decline in the annual inflation rate to 8% at the end of 2023.

Europe emerges as the largest producer of green hydrogen, with a 30 percent share in the world production, due to its ample, low-cost renewables capacity, in a race for decarbonization aiming at transforming by 2030 industries with high carbon footprint such as heavy industry, refinery, aviation, road freight and sea transports, according to the Deloitte study “Hydrogen. Making it happen”.

Paver maker Elis Pavaje plans to have its new plant in Arad, which it opened in 2022, operate at capacity this year.

The management of real estate developer Impact Developer & Contractor (IMP.RO) notified the capital market about the establishment of Impact Alliance Moldova, a construction company responsible for all the group's projects in the Moldavia.

Romania's finance ministry raised almost RON8 billion on Thursday (January 26, 2023) through two government bond issues, at annual average yields of 7.39% and 7.10%.

Wizz Air has announced new routes from Romania’s capital city Bucharest to Luxembourg and Skiathos, and from the country’s western city of Timisoara to Zakynthos.

The year 2023 will probably be a period of rebalancing on the real estate investment segment, after the record highs in 2022, and the logistics and industrial segment remains one of the most dynamic real estate sectors, according to consultants of real estate consulting firm Colliers.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange has announced that the shares of Safetech Innovations, a company present on the capital market since 2021, will start trading on the Main Market on Monday (Feb 6, 2023), following the transfer from the AeRO market, the equity segment of the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s Multilateral Trading System.

eduKiwi, an online course platform launched by digital marketing agency Kiwi based in Romania's western city of Timisoara, reported a turnover of EUR5.71 million in 2022, up over 320% year-over-year, company representatives said in a statement.