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  • Seful Mercedes-Benz: Ne straduim sa tinem in viata toti dealerii

    Din Mercedes-Benz Romania Ion Ti riac detine 49% din actiuni, iar Grupul Daimler 51%.
    "Incercam sa mentinem in viata toti dealerii. Este un exercitiu scump, dar atat reteaua, cat si clientii au nevoie de ajutor", a declarat pentru ZF Michael Grewe.
    El a explicat ca in ultimii doi ani reteaua de dealeri a companiei s-a dublat, la 28 de parteneri in prezent, fata de 13 in 2007, in timp ce numarul de angajati din acest business ajunge la 2.000 de oameni. "Aceste investitii au fost realizate intr-o perioada in care piata locala avea potential foarte mare, cand nimeni nu lua in calcul aceasta criza."
    Cititi mai multe pe www.zf.ro
     

  • S-a dat drumul la finantari – Romstrade obtine 140 de mil. Euro

    Banii sosesc dupa ce piata finantarilor a fost aproape blocata in ultimele luni, si vor fi folositi pentru derularea proiectelor de infrastructura ale companiei. Firma Romstrade, controlata de omul de afaceri Nelu Iordache, va trebui sa ramburseze imprumutul in perioada 2011 – 2013.
    Consultanii tranzactiei au fost Reff si Asociatii, firma afiliata Deloitte Romania, de partea firmei Romstrade, si casa de avocatura Badea Clifford Chance, de partea bancii elvetiene Credit Suisse.
     

  • ANCOM: Peste 2,5 de milioane de conexiuni fixe la internet in 2008

    “Penetrarea broadband in Romania este la jumatatea ratei medii de penetrare din Uniunea Europeana, motiv pentru care principala prioritate a mandatului meu este cresterea acestei rate de penetrare”, a declarat Catalin Marinescu, presedintele ANCOM, cu ocazia primei conferinte de presa de la preluarea functiei, la 1 aprilie. La finalul anului trecut, numarul de comexiuni de acces fix la internet in banda larga era de 2,51 de milioane, in crestere cu 30% fata de 2007, rata de penetrare ajungand la aproximativ 11,7%. Spre comparatie, media inregistrata in toate cele 27 de state membre ale Uniunii Europene se cifreaza la 22,9%.

    "Cresterea fata de 2007 a fost de 30%. in ceea ce priveste accesul la internet la nivelul utilizatorilor rezidentiali la sfârsitul anului 2008, se poate spune ca aproximativ una din trei gospodarii dispunea de servicii de acces la internet in banda larga, rata de penetrare la nivel de gospodarii ajungând la 30,4% la sfârsitul anului trecut", a mai spus Marinescu. Totodata, conexiunile active de acces mobil la internet au crescut cu 150% fata de 2007, pana la un numar de 2,7 milioane, potrivit datelor ANCOM, pe fondul extinderii acoperirii retelelor 3G, care au permis furnizorilor de servicii de telefonie mobila sa lanseze oferte noi de acces mobil la internet in banda larga.

    "Datele statistice preliminare privind evolutia pietei de comunicatii electronice din România in anul 2008 arata ca piata de comunicatii a ajuns la maturitate. Avem cea mai mare rata de penetrare a telefoniei fixe din toate timpurile, un ritm de crestere sustinut al numarului de utilizatori de servicii de telefonie mobila si o crestere substantiala a numarului de conexiuni la internet", a spus presedintele ANCOM.
    Telefonia fixa a inregistrat anul trecut o crestere de 18% fata de 2007, numarul liniilor de acces ajungand la 5,04 milioane, reprezentand o rata de penetrare de 23,4% din populatie si 53,6% din gospodarii. Cei 32 de furnizori alternativi de telefonie fixa cu retea proprie detin aproximativ 40% din numarul total de linii de acces. Numarul furnizorilor alternativi care ofera servicii de apeluri a ajuns la 49 la sfârsitul anului trecut, fiind in scadere fata de sfârsitul anului precedent, in special datorita numarului mare de achizitii si fuziuni incheiate pe parcursul anului 2008.

    In ce priveste telefonia mobila, numarul cartelelor SIM active a depasit la finalul anului trecut 24,5 de milioane, in crestere cu 19,8% fata de 2007, in timp ce numarul SIM-urilor valabile (aflate in perioada de valabilitate la sfarsitul unei perioade de raportare) a fost de 28,6 de milioane, in crestere cu 18,2%. In cazul cartelelor active, rata de penetrare a serviciilor a fost de 114%, in timp ce penetrarea cartelelor SIM valabile a depasit 133%. "Al doilea semestru al anului 2008 pastreaza aceeasi tendinta inregistrata in premiera in primul semestru al anului in ce priveste telefonia mobila – o crestere mai accelerata a numarului de abonamente fata de numarul de cartele preplatite. Din cei 9,7 milioane de utilizatori cu abonament lunar existenti la data de 31 decembrie 2008, peste 70% reprezentau persoane fizice (6,8 milioane), iar cei 2,9 milioane persoane juridice reprezentau mai putin de 30%", a afirmat Catalin Marinescu.

    Portabilitatea numerelor de telefonie mobila     a inregistrat o crestere sustinuta, de aproximativ 50%, conform presedintelui ANCOM, numarul portarilor ajungand astfel la peste 47.000.
     

  • Lectiile lui Keynes

    Agentia Bloomberg a publicat saptamana trecuta un material unde era citat un fost economist al Trezoreriei SUA, in varsta de 97 de ani, care comenta vizita la Washington a englezului John Maynard Keynes, in 1934, menita sa-l convinga pe presedintele Franklin Roosevelt sa dea drumul la cheltuieli pentru a relansa economia Americii. Thomas Worsley, care atunci avea 23 de ani, isi aminteste ca presedintele nu i-a dat prea multa atentie economistului britanic si ca n-a fost incantat de ideea unei stimulari a economiei cu bani publici, dar spera ca Barack Obama nu va repeta acum greseala lui Roosevelt. “Criza actuala valideaza argumentele lui Keynes. Trebuie sa angajezi, ca stat, suficiente cheltuieli ca sa atragi interesul firmelor private pentru riscul de a investi”, spune Worsley.

    Desi un interviu cu un economist care l-a cunoscut pe Roosevelt e o raritate, apar frecvent in presa americana si europeana articole unde e invocat, laudat sau infierat numele lui Keynes, a carui viziune despre posibilitatea de a relansa o economie afectata de depresiune cu ajutorul cheltuielilor publice a revenit puternic in actualitate, atat in SUA, cat si in Europa. Evident, cei ce cred ca nu sunt asemanari intre criza de acum si cea din anii ‘30, sau cei tentati sa judece o teorie economica doar printr-o anumita grila ideologica vor sustine ca au dreptate Milton Friedman si scoala austriaca si ca Keynes s-a inselat. Cu alte cuvinte, ca piata poate rezolva natural de una singura toate problemele economiei, iar interventia statului trebuie intotdeauna limitata la minim.

    Sumele deja alocate de administratia Obama pentru stimulente economice sau pledoaria unora din liderii europeni pentru reglementarea pietelor financiare dovedesc insa ca deja e prea tarziu ca ortodoxia pietei sa mai fie considerata singura teorie viabila pe piata ideilor economice. Si mai mult inca, nici macar nu era nevoie de actuala criza pentru a demonstra aceasta. Paul Krugman, laureatul Nobel ale carui articole le cititi periodic in BUSINESS Magazin, scria in 1998 un eseu intitulat “De ce nu suntem deja cu totii keynesieni”, unde afirma ca “adevarul esential al ideii lui Keynes, ca pana si cea mai productiva economie poate esua daca investitorii si consumatorii cheltuiesc prea putin si ca urmarirea exclusiva a disciplinei fiscale si a unui buget echilibrat poate fi uneori (nu intotdeauna!) o eroare, nu o dovada de intelepciune, este la fel de evident in lumea de azi ca si in anii ‘30”.

    Articolul de fata nu e o pledoarie pentru teoria lui Keynes, ci un indemn de a o cunoaste de la sursa. BUSINESS Magazin s-a asociat la ideea editurii Publica de a lansa o colectie de carti fundamentale de economie, colectie care incepe in aceasta luna cu “Teoria generala a ocuparii fortei de munca, a dobanzii si a banilor”, opera fundamentala a economistului britanic, publicata in 1936 si tradusa in Romania pentru prima data abia in 1970. “In Romania, Keynes nu a mai fost editat de peste 20 de ani si, implicit, n-a mai existat in librarii de peste 20 de ani. Cu alte cuvinte, daca un medic si-ar fi dorit sa afle cum a propus Keynes interventia guvernului in perioade de crize sau de boom economic, fie ar fi comandat cartea intr-o limba straina, fie ar fi renuntat”, spune Bogdan Ungureanu, director executiv al editurii Publica.

    Sugestia lui Ungureanu este ca si in afara perioadelor de criza cum e cea de fata, este necesar ca publicul sa poata avea acces la teoriile economice: “ma refer la publicul larg care vrea sa fie informat si sa poata citi carti de economie fara un abonament la biblioteca ASE”. Colectia lansata de Publica va continua cu lucrari de Paul Krugman, Thorstein Veblen, George Akerlof si Milton Friedman, acesta din urma fiind singurul din care s-a tradus la noi dupa 1989. “Aceste carti trebuie sa existe in librarii. Ele nu vor inregistra neaparat recorduri la vanzari, dar editurile au obligatia morala sa le puna la dispozitia publicului si sa le promoveze”, afirma Ungureanu.

    “Teoria…” lui Keynes nu e simplu de citit; autorul insusi, in prefata la editia franceza din 1936, scria ca e o carte adresata in principal colegilor lui economisti. Pentru cititorul roman, faptul ca are acces la teoria lui Keynes in romaneste e insa o arma in plus in lupta cu confuzia de idei care il intampina la tot pasul. Lectura lui Keynes nu-i poate da un raspuns la intrebarea daca Obama sau Boc au solutiile cele mai bune de iesire din criza, dar cu siguranta il ajuta sa caute raspunsul in cunostinta de cauza.

  • Malls start to shrink

    Almost one year after the Italians at Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione (IGD) bought the Winmarkt shopping centres from NCH investment fund, the head of the company that manages them says, calmly, that the difficult economy period is hurting his stores less than others. ”Other mall-type centres have a tenant mix that generally sells more expensive products than the consumer’s buying power,” Antonio Di Berardino says.

    However, he admits that the crisis affects everybody, ”including us”. The traffic in the 15 Winmarkt centres dropped by 17% in January, by 19% in February and preliminary March data reveal a 20-21% decline. Even so, IGD’s first year in Romania will end this month a ”little better than the target initially set”, which was 19.3 million euros in revenues from rents.

    At this level, the annual yield in euros of the Italians stands at more than 10.5%, which is good even in the current context, when average investment yields are estimated in a report of real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis, at 8.5% for the best commercial properties. ”I was the first IGD manager that came in Romania in August 2007. I am not sorry for the price we paid. Maybe we could have negotiated it better in half a year, but that no longer matters now.”

    The acquisition of the Winmarkt stores from investment fund NCH was the second biggest transaction on the commercial property market of Romania – 182.5 million euros. What matters now, Di Bernardino says, is improving the tenant mix, especially in terms of selection of anchors, that is the major tenants, which are food, home appliances and IT product retailers. Winmarkt signed to bring Carrefour Express in three stores and Domo in its store in Bistrita, with four contracts of the electronics retailer being extended (the company operates in four Winmarkt stores, where its contracts are to expire in 2011). The Domo stores are set to be moved to the upper floors to free up the space in the basement or ground floor for a supermarket and, on the other hand, to boost traffic to the other floors, Di Berardino explains.

  • Dividend exchange

    The period when companies announced the dividends they were going to disburse from last year’s profi t overlapped the best performance of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the last four years, with the BET index having increased by 25% in March, while the SIFs gained more than 30% on average. The companies that announced they would disburse hefty dividends, with 15-20% yields, such as aluminium profile maker Alumil Rom Industry (ALU), aluminium producer Alro Slatina (ALR) and BRD Groupe Société Générale (BRD) have witnessed some of the highest increases on the Stock Exchange lately, while the SIFs (financial investment companies), which will get record dividends from BCR and BRD this year, have soared again.

    This is the first time in the last few years when the investors on the Stock Exchange can get such high yields for their shares just from the dividends they generate. For instance, the dividends from Alumil give investors a 20% gross yield, higher than the interest rate offered by banks for one-year RON deposits. Another eight major companies, including Alro and BRD, offer dividends whose yields stand at 10 to 18%. The best yield of the dividends on the Stock Exchange last year amounted to 8% and the highest profit from dividends in 2007 was 5.2%. ”We have a situation we had not seen on the Stock Exchange for years. On the one hand, stock prices plummeted in the past year, as a result of the economic crisis, and on the other, we have issuers that posted high, even record high profits in 2008, so that net earnings per share are high compared with the share prices.

    Under the circumstances, disbursing dividends, even though not that high, make it possible to get attractive yields, similar to those of the bank deposits. Considering dividends will be disbursed over the next six months, one may say that yields are even higher than those of deposits,” explains Alin Brendea, trading manager of Prime Transaction brokerage company.

  • Cheese puffs go well with crisis

    The two have known each other for over 31 years, and have managed to turn an apparently modest industry – production of cheese puffs, into a several million-euro business. Their company is the second largest producer in Romania, and the largest local supplier. With no very visible presence, the business grew over a period of more than 10 years, and owners still feel they have reason to be optimistic, even in a time of crisis, or maybe thanks to the crisis, if economic difficulties prompt consumers to turn to cheaper products. ”Cheese puffs could see significant sales in the next two years, which are expected to be under the shadow of the crisis,” believes Adrian Iordache.

    After several years of operating an ice cream business in their native city of Ploiesti, which started with the secondhand purchase of an ice cream cart, in 1996, they had a plant that produced 40 tonnes of ice cream a day. It was then that the two business partners decided to move on to a new product category – cheese puffs, because they wanted a product that, unlike ice cream, would not be seasonal. They bought an old cheese puff maker from an old bakery in Cluj and got down to work. Initially, the cheese puff plant functioned in the old location, in the centre of Ploiesti, but soon its production capacity, of 200,000 bags of puffs a day, proved to be insufficient, not to mention the fact that it was rather inefficient to have a plant in the middle of a city. The two then decided to relocate production from the city centre to the outskirts of Ploiesti. For a while, the two plants, the one in Ploiesti and the one in Baicoi, functioned in parallel, but as of 2006, only the second one has remained functional.

    Currently, the Baicoi plant employs 300 people, with the plant’s production capacity amounting to 1 million bags of puffs a day, according to the two partners. Although they set up the company 16 years ago, the idea of producing Gusto puffs has brought them more visibility, especially lately, when sales exceeded their expectations. ”When we started making puffs, we were using a rudimentary technology, like everyone else. We would put the puffs on the table, sprinkle them with oil and salt, and then package them. Now everything is computerised,” says Apostolescu.

  • Come dancing

    In the Pearl Harbour movie, Rafe (Ben Affleck) falls in love with Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) at the club where they would go out dancing every night, while Gatsby, the main character of ”The Great Gatsby” by John F. Fitzgerald was famous for the dancing parties he threw, where the main conflicts of the novel were in fact set off. In almost every book or movie set in the interwar period or during the First World War, dance parties occupy a central position. A century later, the whole society, menaced by the spectre of the crisis, appears to have once again discovered the pleasure of dancing.

    TV shows centred around dancing, such as Strictly Come Dancing (UK) or Dancing with the Stars (US) have boosted turnovers of dance-oriented businesses, from Australia to the UK, Germany and Austria. And Romania is no exception. The opening night of the ”Femei” ballet (March 1st) at the National Opera House was sold out, the ”Un tango mas” (One more tango) show with Razvan Mazilu and Monica Petrica always draws a full house, and the ”Dansez pentru tine” show (the Romanian version of Dancing with the Stars) is watched by almost two million viewers every Friday.

    Lately, dancing has managed to grab the viewers’ attention, which created a market niche for the businesses that sell this kind of entertainment. From dance schools and private lessons for weddings, to travel agencies and hotels, each business has found their own rhythm in the world of dancing. ”The number of those who dream of dancing like Razvan Mazilu or like one of the competitors of ”Dansez pentru tine” is on the rise. The appetite for dancing has gone up, boosted by TV shows and dance shows promoted through billboards and posters,” says Sorin Radan, owner of the Let’s Dance school. According to Radan, a professional dancer, dance teachers at Let’s Dance are working ”at full capacity” all the time.

    ”Our dance groups are always complete. Around 300 people are currently taking dance lessons at Let’s Dance. Usually, in order to sign up with us, one needs to first be included on a waiting list.” Wilmark, owner of Academia de Baile Latino, and a member of the ”Dansez pentru tine” jury, has noticed the same upward trend. Over 10 years, the number of students has been rising from one month to another, and continues to do so. ”We started 2009 with over 350 students and requests are still coming in.”

  • Lessons in failure

    After many years of fighting to save his businesses, with numerous failures and a few successes that helped him get back on his feet, Zoltan Prosszer says, talking with BUSINESS Magazin, that he is now feeling like he did twenty years ago. Just like he did back then, when he was starting the business that would turn into a real automotive empire, he now has to decide where to go.

    In the almost twenty years since his start, Zoltan Prosszer has lived a slightly different history than most entrepreneurs – having learnt many years ago what insolvency, reorganisation, battle with banks and bankruptcy are. Few companies found themselves unable to repay their instalments to the bank or experienced a forced sale during the economic boom in the past. In times of growth, as Romania’s over the last eight years, businesses grew fast, in sync with the market, with few notable failures. There have been only a handful of high-profile bankruptcies: the failure of the electrical retail network Cosmo (founded by businessman Gyorgy Baba), of the Univers’all store chain (created by Razvan Petrovici) and, the latest one, which happened recently, of the IpoteciDirect (MortgageDirect) credit broker (established by seven experienced businessmen). Prosszer has been through such an experience more than once. His story gets a special meaning when put in the context of an economy that is no longer growing in full gear, of the shrinking markets, of banks closing, and of increasingly more common arrearage in the day-to-day operations.

    Zoltan Prosszer started his business in 1991, when he was 27, by investing 1,400 euros to open a shop that sold car parts, which he used to bring in his own car from Italy. He then opened a car repair shop with the money he got from mortgaging his apartment and after that the business took off. In 1996, the group he developed, Paneuro Group, became the market leader on the car part segment and continued to increase until 2002, when it comprised more than 20 companies and employed about 1,400 people. Each line of business was handled by a separate company, which worked with the others in such a way as to create markets for each other. The core was the retail company, Paneuro Trading, which had been established in 1994 and reached 20 million-euro turnover ten years later. Prosszer was one of the first Romanian entrepreneurs to create a group, which eventually turned out to be the Achilles’ heel for his business. Decline started after 2002, and his companies, which had guaranteed loans for each other, went bankrupt one by one between 2004-2005 (Paneuro Trading, Paneuro Leasing, Atu, Novator, Muss) or had to be sold (Aliat). Only of a few companies of the group remain today (Paneuro International, Romcab, Motoplus Paneuro).

    Romcab, the low voltage electrical wiring factory in Targu Mures, which Prosszer bought for one million dollars chiefly because of its warehouses and land ten years ago, was what saved him from complete bankruptcy and is now his main business. He owns about 72% in it, along with a Dutch investment fund – MEI, 5% and Morgan Stanley – 12.2%, with the rest of the shares traded on RASDAQ.

    Though still going through reorganisation, which started in 2004, when it took over 11.5 million dollars (9.5 million euros) in debt from the companies that had gone bankrupt, Romcab is a solid company, Prosszer says. Its market share stands at 10% and demand is higher than it can handle, he adds, even though it has lost a few contracts since the onset of the economic crisis.

  • Profit in crestere cu 43% pentru Antibiotice Iasi in T1

    Vanzarile de pe piata interna au ajuns la 46,4 milioane de lei, in crestere cu 13%, cele mai mari din ultimii trei ani, pe cand exporturile au raportat o majorare din punct de vedere valoric de 44%, pana la 11,07 milioane de lei in perioada mentionata.
     

    Cresterile inregistrate vin pe fondul unui proces de eficientizare a operatiunilor si de reducere a preturilor demarat incepand cu mijlocul anului trecut. Procesul a presupus reducerea consumului cu utilitatile si combustibilul, inghetarea angajarilor si redistribuirea personalului in cadrul companiei, ajustarea numarului acestora, de la 1.624 de persoane la sfarsitului primului trimestru din 2008, la 1.480 la finele lui martie 2009, si imbunatarirea ritmului de recuperare a creantelor.
     

    “Astfel, in acest moment Antibiotice are un cash-flow (flux de numerar – n. red.) pozitiv de circa 10,4 milioane de lei in conditiile de plata integrala a tuturor obligatiilor salariale si bugetare, achitarea in proportie de 96% a dividendelor aferente exercitiului financiar 2007 si prin respectarea graficului de plati catre furnizorii de utilitati si materii prime”, au declarat reprezentantii companiei intr-un comunicat remis Bursei de Valori Bucuresti (BVB). Acestia au mai precizat ca “acest disponibil in contul curent este o garantie pentru dezvoltarea pe termen mediu, pentru asigurarea unui flux continuu de productie si, bineinteles, pentru siguranta locurilor de munca”.

    Cititi aici despre planurile companiei in 2009.