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German-held retailer Kaufland plans to reach the 200-hypermarket mark in Romania by 2025, from the current 171 it has at the moment, developing at a steady pace of at least 10 new stores every year, its officials said.

French-held Carrefour Group posted EUR706 million gross sales (including VAT) in Romania in the third quarter, 5.2% higher than in the year-ago period. This is the second highest growth of the large European markets, after Belgium (5.7%) and ahead of Spain, Italy and Poland.

CEC Bank and Tarom have signed a partnership agreement that will provide payment acceptance services for bank cards issued under the Visa and Mastercard logos, by taking over the settlement of card transactions carried out on international markets, which has so far been carried out by a bank outside Romania.

Dutch-Belgian group Ahold Delhaize, owner of Mega Image, has taken over Profi network in Romania from MidEuropa Partners, an investment fund. The deal is valued at EUR1.3 billion, the highest in the history of Romanian retail.

OMV Petrom and Auchan Retail Romania have completed the nationwide installation of almost 400 MyAuchan proximity stores in all Petrom stations.

Lender Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), controlled by Austria’s Erste Group, in the first nine months of 2023 posted net profit worth RON1.69 billion (EUR343.8 million), up 10.3% from the same period of last year, on the improved operating result underpinned by advance in customer business.

Trace Group Hold, a Bulgarian construction company involved in the execution of highway A7 to Moldavia, generated RON41 million turnover in Romania in 2022 with just seven employees. A year before, the same company reported zero turnover, RON270,000 losses and a single employee.

Pangram, the producer of Monte Banato pasta brand, majority held by Italy’s Colussi and the current mayor of Resita, Ioan Popa, ended 2022 with turnover worth RON65.6 million (EUR13.3 million), up 27.8% from 2021, in line with ZF calculations based on Finance Ministry data.

Port operator Socep Constanta (SOCP.RO) has approved a loan it will take out from BRD- Groupe Société Générale (BRD.RO) to continue the investment in building a grain terminal, i.e., to complete the “Phase 2 construction of grain terminal with silo and ship loader in Constanta Port”.

Avaelgo, an IT solutions provider based in Timisoara and one of the locally relevant partners of Microsoft, has received a "significant strategic investment" from IPS Solutions, a software group headquartered in Liechtenstein, which will see the Romanian company begin an expansion process, including into new markets.

Frech retailer Decathlon will open its first store of Arad on November 1 and thus reach a 30-unit network in Romania.

Bucur Obor (BUCU.RO), which manages the shopping center by the same name in Bucharest, posted RON16.5 million net profit in January-September 2023, 11.6% higher than in the year-ago period, the company said in its financial report to the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Romanian executives forecast a period of stability in processing industry and services activity in the last three months of the year, in parallel with a moderate decrease in the number of constructions employees and rising prices in constructions and retail, in line with a survey by the country’s statistics board INS.

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka group, which owns the most IKEA stores, has acquired a 300 MWp photovoltaic park ready for construction in Dambovita county, with total investments topping EUR200 million.

Greek group PPC, which bought Enel Romania for EUR1.2 billion, has appointed Alessio Menegazzo as CEO and Country Manager.

SeedBlink, Europe’s tech-focused venture investment and equity management platform, is introducing a series of product enhancements as part of Fall Release. Platforma de investiţii în start-up-uri tech SeedBlink introduce o serie de instrumente care simplifică şi îmbunătăţesc procesele de acces şi înţelegere a investiţiilor pentru companiile europene şi acţionarii acestora. Ele sunt destinate fondatorilor, dar şi investitorilor, spun oficialii companiei

The number of insolvencies in Romania decreased by 7% year-over-year in the first eight months of 2023, but a return to the growth rate is expected in the coming months, the factors being both conjunctural and/or seasonal as well as structural, according to Allianz Trade's latest Global Insolvency Report.

Ropharma (RPH.RO), a pharmacy chain owned by entrepreneur Mihai Miron, said in a stock market report on October 26 that it had called its shareholders to vote on contracting a credit facility of EUR2 million from ING Bank.

CBRE, the global and national leader in commercial real estate services and investments, has launched the "Manufacturing Report 2023” which shows that production spaces are on an upward trend.

Romania’s general consolidated budget posted a deficit of RON56.46 billion in January-September 2023, or 3.55% of gross domestic product (GDP), as compared to a budget gap of RON41.70 billion (2.96% of GDP) reported in the same period of 2022, the finance ministry said on Thursday (October 26).