Banks and insurance companies that should generate added value and drive economic growth are adding to the ranks of companies with the heaviest losses in Romania. State-run Oltchim, which has been struggling with insolvency since the beginning of last year, posted the highest loss of 2013, according to a ranking compiled by ZF based on the Trade Registry data.
Banks are still having to deal with the problem of the non-performing loans eating into their profit margins, while the insurance market is shaken by many scandals and companies that account for one third of the market have run into trouble with the Prosecutor’s Office or the Financial Supervisory Authority.
Runners up to Oltchim are another two industrial companies, Petrotel-Lukoil, Russia’s Lukoil company that owns the refinery in Ploiesti, and ArcelorMittal Galati, the former Sidex, now owned by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal.
Below them in the ranking are two banks, BRD SocGen and Volksbank, with several other banks among the top loss-makers: BCR (10th, EUR50.8 million loss), Intesa (14th), Bancpost (18th), Nextebank (38th). Top loss-making insurers are Asirom and Omniasig of Austria’s VIG, with a cumulated loss of EUR100 million.
Other state-run companies besides Oltchim include Complexul Energetic Hunedoara (Hunedoara Energy Complex, 17th) and Tarom SA (22nd), while CFR Calatori and CFR Marfa, two of the state-owned black holes, have not published their 2013 financials with the Trade Registry or on the Finance Ministry’s website yet.
More than 600,000 commercial companies are registered in Romania, which generate about EUR230 billion revenue a year together and employ more than four million people, according to the latest Trade Registry data.
The ranking of the companies with the highest losses also includes insolvent companies like Grup Romet, Avicola Crevedia, Murfatlar, Gea International Development, Mic.Ro Retail and PIC SA. The 100 highest losses reported by companies in Romania stood at EUR2.86 billion in 2013, according to the financial statements submitted with the Trade Registry so far.
The 100 companies in the ranking posted EUR14 billion together and employed more than 96,000 people. Their losses were 60% higher than in 2012.
If looking at losses by sector, real Hypermarket and Auchan Romania posted the highest losses in retail last year, while UPC Romania posted the highest loss in the telecom sector, due to the investments in its network. The highest loss of the fast-moving consumer goods sector was Bunge Romania’s, the maker of Floriol vegetable oil.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)