The Trade Registry provided data about the 300 most profitable companies in Romania and about the counties where they are based at ZF’s request, which ZF used for a breakdown of profits by county.
Taking Bucharest out of the equation, Sibiu and Timis (central and western Romania) are the top two counties in terms of profit made by the companies operating there in 2011.
Most profitable company in Sibiu was gas supplier Romgaz, 1 billion lei (EUR218 million), while the most profitable in Timis was electricity distribution company Enel Distributie Banat, with RON220 million.
A look at the geographic location of the companies in the ranking shows the highest profits were made in the center and western parts of the country.
The performance of Bucharest in the ranking is influenced by giants like oil company OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), the leader of the overall ranking or the presence of some companies in several counties, such as Enel.
Another element influencing the analysis is builder Enka Construction & Development, the main subcontractor of Bechtel, which saw a profit surge to 245% in 2011 from 8.6% in 2010. The net profit it posted was RON257 million compared with RON23 million in 2010.
Several counties, i.e. Botosani, Suceava, Harghita, Covasna, Vrancea, Teleorman, Giurgiu and Hunedoara (northeast, east-center, east, south and west-center of Romania) do not have any company among the 300 most profitable.
The rest of the counties in Romania’s eastern region, Moldova (besides Botosani, Suceava and Vrancea) are not too profitable, either, as they are mostly in the bottom third of the ranking. Moldova’s top performer is Bacau, thanks to regional investment fund SIF Moldova (SIF2.RO). (EUR1=RON4.5809)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)