Romania’s Competition Council is set to complete, in a few months’ time, an investigation targeting local insurance companies suspected of exchanging information in order to raise the price of the products they sell, antitrust regulator head Bogdan Chiritoiu said on Thursday.
Romania posted the lowest annual inflation rate, of 0.6%, in the European Union, in April 2017, and one of the lowest monthly inflation rates, of 0.2%, according to data published on Wednesday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The Romanian durable goods market rose nearly 6% on the year in January-March 2017, and the electronics and small appliances sectors saw double-digit growth rates, according to a GfK report.
Vodafone Romania, the second largest player on the local mobile telephony market, on Tuesday said it registered service revenue of EUR707.2 million in the 2016-2017 fiscal year (April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017), up 2.7%, in organic terms, compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Romania’s state-run lender EximBank registered a turnover of nearly EUR110 million from factoring operations in 2016, up 76% on the year, climbing two spots versus 2015, to the second position, among exports factors in Romania.
Stihl Romania, the local division of German power tool producer Stihl, on Monday announced a EUR6 million investment in expanding its space in Otopeni, a 3,000-square meter surface area used for the development of its business, and in expanding by 300 sqm the space used to train its technical staff.
Aluminum producer Alro Slatina (ALR.RO) registered an adjusted net profit of RON93 million, in January-March 2017, compared with RON41 million in the year-earlier period, and its turnover rose to RON634 million, from RON564 million in the first quarter of 2016.
Romania’s inflation rate is expected to rise and the budget deficit is seen widening due to tax cuts and higher public spending and the unitary pay bill is a huge risk for fiscal estimations, the European Commission said in its spring forecast released on Thursday.
The European Commission (EC) has revised downward its forecast on Romania’s 2017 economic growth by 0.1%, to 4.3% from 4.4%, below the Romanian Government’s projection of 5.2%, and kept its GDP growth forecast of 3.7% for 2018, the Commission said in its spring forecast.
Romania's OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), majority owned by Austria's OMV, registered a net profit of RON618 million in the first quarter of 2017, double from RON288 million in the year-earlier period, the company said in its financial report on Thursday.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has raised by 0.3% its economic growth forecast for Romania, to 4% for 2017, according to EBRD’s latest Regional Economic Prospects report released on Wednesday.
Electricity distribution companies of Enel group will install over 150,000 smart meters in 2017, in the regions where they operate in Romania – Muntenia Sud, Dobrogea and Banat, Enel said in a statement on Tuesday.
WDP (Warehouses De Pauw), one of Europe’s leading industrial developers, is buying a 50,000-sqm land plot in industrial park Oarja-Pitesti, and BNP Paribas Real Estate brokers the transaction, BNP said in a statement.
Constanta becomes the fourth large city in Romania where home prices exceed the threshold of EUR1,000 per square meter, with the Imobiliare.ro index registering an increase of 2.1% in April, to EUR1,013 per sqm, from EUR992 per sqm, according to a statement released on Monday.
Maltese group Hili Ventures has acquired, through its division Premier Capital, the building ART Business Centre, from FBC Exclusiv Company, according to law firm Suciu Popa, which assisted the transaction.
BRD group on Thursday said it ended the first quarter of 2017 with a net profit of RON330 million, 4.5-fold higher than in the year-earlier period, due to a net cost of positive risk, underpinned by improved net interest income and a tight grip on operating expenses.
Romania’s auto market registered, in January- March 2017, the most dynamic quarter of the last eight years, according to an analysis by Romanian car fair operator Autovit.ro.
The BET index, which tracks the twelve most liquid shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), rose 16.1% in January-April 2017, placing it second in the EU, after Poland’s index which increased by 22.02%, according to BVB’s April report released on Wednesday.
Romania registered the fewest employees aged 15 to 64 employed under a temporary contract in the European Union (1.4%), while Spain (26.1%) and Poland (27.5%) were at the opposite end of the scale, according to Eurostat.
Renault-owned carmaker Automobile Dacia registered a turnover of EUR4.6 billion (RON20.765 million) in 2016, up 8.35% from EUR4.2 billion in 2015, according to the management report released on Wednesday.
Only 3% of total Romanian companies represent the engine of the country’s economy and half of them are in dire straits, according to the third edition of a study by insolvency practitioner Casa de Insolventa Transilvania (CITR) Group regarding the evolution of impact companies between 2013 and 2015.
Daniela Lulache, the general manager of Romanian state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica (SNN.RO) since 2013, was not reconfirmed as a member of the company's Board of Directors but will keep the general manager position by September 1, according to the decision of the shareholders.
Romanian lender Raiffeisen Bank granted loans of more than EUR350 million to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) program, the lender said in a statement Tuesday.
Austria's OMV, owner of OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), initiated arbitration proceedings against the Romanian state at International Court of Arbitration in Paris for recovering environmental costs worth EUR34 million, OMV said in its 2016 annual report.
Over 25,000 housing units are under various stages of development and are due to be delivered in 2017 in Romania’s main regional residential markets, such as Bucharest – Ilfov, Cluj – Napoca, Sibiu, Brasov and Constanta, according to a study by real estate consulting firm Coldwell Banker Romania.
Businessman Omer Susli, owner of do-it-yourself retailer Praktiker Romania, bought the stores it operated in Ploiesti and Constanta cities, through a loan from CEC bank.
The Bucharest Court of Appeals approved the merger between Banca Comerciala Carpatica and Patria Bank, on April 21, allowing the two banks to complete, in the coming period, the procedural and operational stages needed for the implementation of the merger, Patria Bank said in a statement on Monday