Business Review Issue 2, February - March by Business Review

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

NEWS 3

NEWS in brief

Contents 6

IMF negotiations stumble over energy policy

30 pct of Romanians expect economy to improve in 2015, ﬁnds GfK study

Residential market sees growth beyond Prima Casa

Bucharest’s new oﬃce supply to increase by 30 percent in 2015

10 The dissolution of Rasdaq market – potential unwanted eﬀects on companies 12

AGRICULTURE Agricover to invest EUR 5 mln in pork processing unit Italian Agribusiness holding Agricover Group has announced it will expand its business into pork production after acquiring a slaughterhouse in Niculesti, Dambovita county. The total investment in the project amounts to EUR 5 million and will also include upgrading the processing lines, increasing the capacity extension, the development of the cutting lines, the purchase of specialized logistics infrastructure and the development of the IT system. The unit currently has a slaughter capacity of 120 pigs per hour.

AUTO Car sales up by 15.4 pct in January Car sales increased by 15.4 percent in January compared to the same period of 2014, but were down by 29.3 percent against the previous month, according to the Association of Car Producers and Importers (APIA). Second-hand car imports also increased. A total of 5,535 vehicles were sold in January.

RON 35.64 billion (EUR 8 billion). Operational incomes increased by 20 percent at the end of 2014, from RON 1.99 billion (EUR 450 million), compared to RON 1.66 billion (EUR 373 million) in 2013. At the same time, operational expenses increased by 3.4 percent to RON 836.5 million (EUR 188 million).

BRD returns to profit in 2014 Romania’s second largest bank BRD posted a RON 43.2 million (EUR 9.7 million) proﬁt last year due to a 43 percent net risk cost decrease, the bank has announced. In 2013 it registered a loss of RON 385 million (EUR 86.6 million). Last year the lender continued to implement cost optimization measures that led to a reduction of operational expenses by 2.9 percent compared to 2013. The cost/income ratio was 50.2 percent. BRD had a market share of 12.39 percent in September 2014.

BT profit up by 19.5 pct in 2014 Banca Transilvania (BT) registered a net proﬁt of RON 448.1 million (EUR 101 million) last year, up 19.5 percent y-o-y following better cost control, the bank has announced. Provisions rose by 57 percent to RON 638 million (EUR 143.6 million) and assets by 11.2 percent to

14 Ten and counting: the survivors of a decade on the local market 18 Octagon aims to enter top ten construction companies 20 More ups and fewer downs on a diﬃcult market 22 CEZ Romania: over EUR 2 billion of investments in ten years 30 Storience: making its name on the London branding market 32 BR Awards – the nominees 37 Where to draw the line with the Big Brother laws?

FMCG

40 Group consolidation to shape advertising sector in 2015

Coca-Cola HBC reports 6 percent drop in local volume sales in 2014

42 Romanian Peasant Museum marks 25th anniversary

Coca-Cola HBC’s sales volume in Romania fell by 6 percent last year to 139.2 million bottle packs from 148.5 million bottle packs in 2013, amid greater competitiveness on the market and a fall in Coca-Cola carbonated beverages sales. This is the second consecutive year when Coca-Cola HBC Romania’s sales have declined after sold volumes fell by 9 percent in 213. At global level, the bottler’s sales decreased by 2.8 percent last year, to 2 billion packs from 2.06 billion sold in 2013.

HEALTHCARE Regina Maria invests EUR 5 mln in expanding network

BANKING

National health insurance card becomes compulsory this month

Private healthcare company Regina Maria will invest over EUR 5 million this year in expanding its network in cities where it is not present, such as Iasi, and estimates a 20 percent increase in turnover to EUR 67 million. The company hired 300 people in 2014, growing to 3,000 employees. This year it plans to hire another 300.

INFRASTRUCTURE Romania to have 1,300 km of new highway by 2030, says Ministry of Transport The updated Transport Master Plan, drawn up following public debate, foresees the construction of 1,300 kilometers of highway by 2030, twice as many as in the initial plan. Following debate, the Ministry of Transport has proposed the construction of various highway sectors that were initially to be expressways, namely Sibiu-Pitesti, Bacau-Pascani, Tar-

42 Director Radu Jude takes Silver Bear 43 New chapter: Carturesti bookstore opens in Old Town 44 Bucharest National Opera stages Verdi’s Felstaﬀ 44 Film review: Wish I was here 45 Taking care of Romania’s institutionalized children

ISSN No. 1453 - 729X PUBLISHER Bill Avery EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anda Sebesi EDITORS AT LARGE Anca Ionita, Simona Fodor JOURNALISTS Simona Bazavan, Otilia Haraga Raluca Comanescu, Tatiana Lazar, Romanita Oprea, Andreea Marinas COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe PHOTO EDITOR Mihai Constantineanu LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu PUBLISHER Bloc Notes Media ADDRESS No. 10 Italiana St., 2nd ﬂoor, ap. 3 Bucharest, Romania

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Oana Molodoi SALES & EVENTS Ana-Maria Nedelcu, Oana Albu, Valeria Cornean, Romeo Bosna MARKETING Ana-Maria Stanca, Ana Maria Andrei, Anamaria Radu PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat LANDLINE Editorial: 031.040.09.32 Oﬃce: 031.040.09.31 EMAILS editorial@business-review.ro sales@business-review.ro events@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

4 NEWS

NEWSin brief gu Neamt-Iasi-Ungheni and Targu MuresTargu Neamt (the latter as a motorway built in several stages).

INVESTMENTS Foreign investments down by 11 pct in 2014 Non-residents’ direct investment in Romania is estimated at EUR 2.42 billion in 2014, according to data from the National Bank of Romania (BNR). This marks a 10.6 percent drop from the postcrisis peak reported in 2013. Romania attracted EUR 2.71 billion of foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2013. This was up by 27 percent against 2012 when FDI posted the ﬁrst increase since the beginning of the economic downturn but still less than a third of the record EUR 9.5 billion reported in 2008.

Local EU funds absorption rate 20 pct below EU average Romania has absorbed only 56 percent of the EU funds it has been allocated for the 2007-2013 ﬁnancial period compared to an EU average of 76 percent, according

to the most recent data from the European Commission (EC), said Angela Filote, head of the EC representation in Romania, quoted by Mediafax news agency. This makes Romania the only EU member country with a rate of absorption lower than 60 percent, she added, warning that the country has only this year to absorb the remaining funds for the 2007-2013 ﬁnancial framework and improve its rate.

Another 300 people are expected to ﬁll new positions in the quality assurance, software development, project management, IT architecture and functional/business analysis departments by 2016.

MACROECONOMICS Economy expands by 2.9 pct in 2014

IT DB Global Technology reaches 200 employee target, plans to recruit 300 more by 2016 DB Global Technology, the technological center of Deutsche Bank (DB), announced that it has reached its target of 200 employees, of whom 40 were hired in the last three months of 2014, according to DB officials. The center has been operational since January 2014 and is predicted to reach 500 employees by 2016. After the recruits were brought in, the office expanded on an additional floor in the same headquarters in Pipera.

Romania’s GDP reported a 2.9 percent increase last year compared to 2013, after in Q4 it grew by 0.5 percent against Q3, and by 2.6 percent compared to the same period of 2013, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Economic growth in the ﬁrst quarter of 2014 compared to the last quarter of 2013 was adjusted from 0.8 percent to 0.3 percent and the third quarter’s economic growth was revised from 1.8 percent to 2.2 percent compared to the second quarter. Data for the second quarter remained unchanged at a GDP contraction of 0.4 percent against the ﬁrst quarter of 2014.

ONLINE Romanians bought online products exceeding EUR 1.2 billion in 2014 Local online retail generated sales of more than EUR 1.1 billion in 2014, according to the eCommerce Prize Gala (GPeC), which covers only products and not services, bill payments, plane and show tickets, as well as payment for holidays and travel. The Romanian online retail market doubled in size last year on 2013. The market reached approximately EUR 1.2 billion in 2014, compared to just EUR 600 million in 2013.

TELECOM Vodafone’s Supernet 4G service draws 60 pct increase in data traffic Since its launch in September 2014, Vodafone Supernet 4G, a mobile data service designed to allow higher speeds, network stability and security in the network, has brought the company a 60 percent increase in total data traﬃc, the operator has announced. Also, Vodafone’s 4G data traﬃc grew more than fourfold in the same period. Moreover, data speeds between July 2014 and December 2014 doubled for downloads and uploads, said Andrea Rossini, consumer business unit director at Vodafone Romania.

MONTH AHEAD February 23 German / Austrian Forum

Investors’

Austria and Germany have remained among the most active investors in the local economy, together accounting for over 30 percent of the direct foreign investments in Romania in the past year. The sixth German and Austrian Investors Forum will look at the year to come through both the investors’ and authorities’ perspectives, trying to identify solutions to improve the economic environment and attract new investments on the local market. March 1 Tax evasion alert Customers will be able to report retailers who don’t issue tax receipts via a telephone number set up by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), which stores will have to display from this date. March 2 BR Awards The Business Review Awards are about success stories, exceptional results and brilliant people. These are just some of the ingredients that have turned the event into a tradition which is now in its tenth year. The winners of the 12 categories will receive their prizes during a gala on March 2. March 10 Holiday vouchers The National Tourism Authority (ANT) announced it would solve the bureaucratic problems related to the issuing of holiday vouchers by March 10. The initial deadline for issuing the vouchers was January 1 and employers’ unions from the tourism industry have complained that the delay is affecting the market. Both public and private companies can grant holiday vouchers to their employees which can be used only in Romania.

MOST READ www.business-review.eu 1 Carturesti opens Old Town bookstore this Thursday

2 UPDATE: Media mogul Adrian Sarbu under arrest

3 Bucharest’s Mega Mall to open on April 23

4 Chamber of Deputies approves arrest of former tourism minister Elena Udrea

5 Former tourism minister Elena Udrea investigated for corruption

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

NEWS 5

WHO’S NEWS

BR welcomes information for Who’s News. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

George Buruiana

Marius Ghenea

has stepped down as general director of CFR Marfa. He had held the position since June 2014, this being his second time at the helm of the state-owned railway operator after another stint between 1998 and 2001. Between 2002 and 2011 Buruiana managed a private railway operator and in 2012 he was appointed president of the Railway Carriers Association.

has joined the 3TS Capital team as senior adviser, with the mission to expand the private equity fund’s technology investment portfolio, according to Wall-Street.ro. The entrepreneur will be in charge of the investment strategy of local private equity and venture capital fund Catalyst Romania, while providing consultancy to 3TS CEE Fund III.

Generale. He has been with the French group for the past seven years. Prior to this, he worked for more than four years in the sales and marketing departments of companies such as GE Money, Citibank and Raiffeisen Leasing.

Adrian Ghita

Viorel Opait

is the new creative director of advertising agency Springer & Jacoby Romania. An art director by profession, he has over 10 years of professional experience in advertising. Ghita has previously worked for agencies such as Graﬁtti BBDO, Cohn&Jansen and Mercury 360.

has been appointed business development director at the local office of real estate services firm JLL. He will be focusing mostly on the office and industrial segments. Opait graduated from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE Bucharest) and has over ten years of professional experience in the real estate industry. During his career he has been involved in over 100 transactions totaling more than 500,000 sqm. His name is linked to transactions such as the sale of A1 Business Park, and office consolidations for Vodafone, ING Bank and Microsoft. Before joining JLL, Opait worked for Colliers International in the corporate services department.

Ioana Enache has been put in charge of Amway’s operations in Greece in addition to her responsibilities as general manager for Romania and Bulgaria. She has over 22 years of professional experience in sales, marketing, communication, strategy and change management, having worked for companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, A&D Pharma and Petrom. Enache was appointed general manager of Amway Romania in February 2012 when she replaced George Popescu. ARE POZA

Catalin Olteanu has been appointed commercial director of operational leasing company ALD Automotive, a branch of BRD – Groupe Societe Generale and the ALD Automotive Group. Olteanu has previously worked as deputy commercial director at BRD Finance IFN – Groupe Societe

Andrei Ristea has been promoted to sales manager by Trend Consult and will be responsible, along with the account management, for drafting and implementing the company’s sales strategy. He joined the team in 2011 as sales consultant. Ristea has ten years of experience in sales. In the past he has worked in management and training for ﬁnancial and banking companies.

Elke Schopf has joined the retail department of real estate services ﬁrm CBRE Romania, the company has announced. She has over 15 years of professional experience in real estate and will coordinate the lease of one of the shopping centers exclusively represented by CBRE Romania. Schopf has previously worked for Immoﬁnanz where she acted as head of leasing retail and was responsible for projects such as Polus Cluj, Maritimo Constanta and Pitești Mall. Between 2001 and 2013 she worked for Raiffeisen Evolution and Baumax.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

6 MacRoEconoMy

IMF negotiations stumble over energy policy Representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission (EC) have not signed a letter of agreement with Romania after the latest round of talks on the country’s EUR 4 billion standby aid deal, but pundits say this should not impact the financial markets. nia was interested in a more ﬂexible deal. “I will always maintain the opinion that a ﬂexible agreement, similar to the one Poland has, is a very good thing,” said Ponta.

∫ SIMona Bazavan Gas price hikes and the restructuring of Romania’s state-owned coal industry were the main roadblocks during discussions between the IMF-EC delegation and the local authorities. Representatives of the two institutions were in Bucharest between January 27 and February 9 for consultations and the third evaluation of the EUR 4 billion stand-by agreement with Romania which will expire this September. The government would not agree to increase the price of gas for households and companies providing heating for end consumers to RON 62 (approximately EUR 14) per megawatt from RON 53.3 at present as the IMF asked for, explained PM Victor Ponta after the talks. The IMF also called for the “massive and radical” restructuring of the Hunedoara and Oltenia energy complexes which would lead on the medium- and long-term to the extinction of Romania’s coal-based energy sector, argued the PM. “Major investments have been and continue to be made in order to meet environmental requirements and we agree to take all the necessary measures to increase eﬃciency, but only within the limits we consider necessary to ensure the existence of the coal-based energy industry for the next 10, 15, 20 years and to preserve jobs and social balance in these areas,” said Ponta, according to Hotnews.ro. These were the main reasons why another letter of intent with the IMF and the EC has not been signed since

Romania still vulnerable to external shocks, warns IMF

No compromise: the IMF and the government did not agree over gas price hikes and the restructuring of Romania’s state-owned coal industry

the visit, explained the PM, adding that discussions will continue and a new IMF mission will come to Bucharest in April. But the failure to reach an agreement with its international creditors should not produce any macroeconomic effects in Romania, say economists. “I don’t think that the situation resulting from not signing an agreement of intent with the IMF will have a signiﬁcant impact on Romanian ﬁnancial markets. Liquidity excess, extremely reduced interest rates in Europe as well as Romania’s good macroeconomic indicators will prob-

“Potential growth is currently projected at around 3 percent in the medium term. The mission estimates that ratcheting up EU funds absorption substantially, leading to a greater density and higher quality of infrastructure, could boost this growth by about half a percentage point annually over the medium term,” IMF representatives

2.7 %

The IMF’s economic growth forecast for Romania in 2015

ably mean that investors’ appetite for Romanian assets will remain unchanged,” Radu Craciun, BCR’s chief economist, told Hotnews.ro. This means that at least on the short term state bond yields will remain at a historic low and the national currency should not depreciate, he predicted. The EUR 4 billion precautionary aid deal with the IMF and the EU was signed in September 2013 to protect Romania from potential spillover effects from international markets and help reduce ﬁnancing costs. So far Romania has not drawn on the money and has no plans to do so, but even if this were the case it would ﬁrst have to sign a letter of intent. In spite of failed discussions with the IMF, the PM said that he wants a new agreement with the country’s international creditors after the ongoing precautionary aid deal expires in September, only this time around Roma-

Following the global crisis the Romanian economy has largely managed to address internal and external imbalances through a “mix of sound macroeconomic policies”, noted the IMF in a statement following the visit. However, Romania is still vulnerable to the evolution of the global economy and future growth depends on stepping up EU funds absorption and upgrading infrastructure among others, added IMF representatives. “Convergence has stalled and weak public infrastructure has emerged as a key bottleneck for a higher growth trajectory. At the same time, Romania remains vulnerable to external shocks and the repair of balance sheets is not yet complete,” they commented. The IMF recommended that Romania increase the efficiency of public spending, “re-invigorate delayed state-owned enterprise reforms, and resolve crisis legacies in the financial sector”. Romania’s potential economic growth is projected at around 3 percent in the medium term – 2.7 percent for 2015 and 2.9 percent for 2016 – but should the authorities accelerate the uptake of EU funds which in turn would lead to the upgrading of public infrastructure, the country’s economy would expand this growth by about half a percentage point annually over the medium term, estimates the IMF. The IMF’s last evaluation visit to Bucharest was in June last year when the government and the fund agreed upon the reduction social contributions by five percentage points. Romania’s EUR 4 billion precautionary agreement is equally divided between the IMF and the EU. It is the third and smallest deal with the two lenders since 2009 when the country inked a EUR 20 billion bailout loan. simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February2015

conSUMER conFIdEncE 7

30 pct of Romanians expect economy to improve in 2015, finds GfK study For the first time since the beginning of the crisis, the number of Romanians who think the economy will perform better over the coming year surpasses the number of those who expect it to worsen, according to GfK’s Consumer Confidence Barometer. ∫ SIMona Bazavan “It is the first time in seven years when the share of those who are confident about the economic future of the country exceeds the share of those who are skeptical. This leads us to believe that the GfK indicator will go up in 2015 as well. The fact that an intense election year came to an end and that there are recovery premises for the global economy gives Romanians hope for a better future,” said Andi Dumitrescu, general director of GfK Romania. The GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer reached an annual average of -28.6 at the end of 2014. According to GfK, four out of ten local consumers think that the general state of the Romanian economy was

worse last year than in 2013. However, the situation has improved since December 2013, when nearly six out of ten Romanians felt that way. Moreover, a third of them expect the economy to get better in 2015 and only 20 percent think it will get worse. According to another source, Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence Index, Romanians were more concerned about the economy in Q4 than throughout the rest of the year, but overall the consumer confidence index was on the rise. The same report revealed that the public’s concerns about job security and debts increased in the last quarter of 2014 on the previous quarters. “Health status, job security, debts and the increasing value of utility bills are Romanians’ main concerns. Health status and debts are mentioned signifi-

cantly more often as main concern by Romanians than the European average,” said Nielsen representatives. According to GfK, a third of Romanians said in December that their families’ financial situation was worse than 12 months before and only 16 percent thought it was better. The situation had improved compared to a year before when 44 percent of respondents said their families’ financial situation had worsened. The study also reveals that Romanians’ expectations regarding their financial perspectives, inflation and unemployment had improved in December 2014 compared to the situation 12 months before. Also, the number of those who didn’t plan to purchase durable goods dropped in December 2014 (49 percent) compared to December 2013 (52 percent).

Romanians’ attitude towards saving remained relatively stable. Only 20 percent of consumers were planning to save money in December 2014 while 59 percent of respondents said their income barely covered their monthly expenses. At the same time the number of debtors posted a slight drop – 16 percent compared to 19 percent in December 2013 and December 2012. The information comes from the Consumer Conﬁdence Barometer, a study that is co-ﬁnanced by the European Commission and conducted monthly by GfK Romania. The data are representative of Romania’s population aged 15 and over, with a sample of 1,000 people interviewed each month. simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

8 reAl estAte

briefs NePi plans to extend Promenada mall in bucharest by 25,000 sqm South African New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) is aiming to extend the surface of its Promenada mall in Bucharest by 25,000 sqm but gave no timeline for the project. The real estate investment fund is planning similar extensions for other commercial properties in its portfolio – City Park in Constanta, Deva Shopping Centre and Severin Shopping Center in DrobetaTurnu Severin, all of which are scheduled for completion this year.

residential market sees growth beyond Prima Casa More than 25,000 state-guaranteed Prima Casa mortgages will be taken out in 2015, surpassing the average of recent years. Moreover, after the number of regular mortgages in the national currency saw a substantial increase last year in response to falling interest rates, the trend is expected to continue in 2015, fuelling hopes of a new growth cycle for the residential market.

investor pays eUr 1 mln for 32 apartments in Cosmopolis An investor paid around EUR 1 million for 32 double studios in the Cosmopolis residential project in Bucharest earlier this year, according to developer Opus Land. The apartments were purchased to be later leased for a minimum period of three to ﬁve years. A similar transaction was closed in 2013 by an investor who bought an entire building within Cosmopolis for over EUR 2 million.

bucharest’s Mega Mall to open on April 23 The EUR 165 million shopping mall developed by New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) in Bucharest will oﬃcially open on April 23, the company has announced. Mega Mall is the largest investment the South African investment fund has made in Romania so far and the largest modern shopping mall to be delivered in the country this year. It covers 72,000 sqm (GLA) and is located in eastern Bucharest, close to the Arena Nationala stadium.

bucharest apartment asking prices down by 2.7 pct in January, says imobiliare.ro Asking prices for Bucharest apartments dropped by 2.7 percent on average this January compared to the previous month and reached an average of EUR 1,037/sqm , according to data from real estate platform Imobiliare.ro. Compared to the same month last year, the fall was 2.3 percent. This downward trend affected both “old apartments” (mainly properties built before 1990) and new properties. Outside the capital, owners increased asking prices in most cities this January.

Afi europe buys land in brasov for mall AFI Europe has signed a preliminary agreement to purchase land owned by the retailer Cora in Brasov’s civic center, where the company wants to build a mall. The ﬁrst phase of the mall developed by Immochan in the city will be delivered this March.

Old vs. new: most of the First Home mortgage loans have been used to buy properties built before 1990

∫ siMoNA bAzAvAN About 7,000 new RON-denominated mortgages were taken out in December 2014, more than three times the volume registered at the beginning of the year, according to data from Romania’s central bank. This was mainly the result of falling interest rates for mortgages in the national currency – by mid-2014 interest rates for RON-denominated mortgages dropped below those of euro-denominated mortgages – but also of an overall increase of transactions involving residential properties. Real estate developer Adama sold 30 percent more apartments last year after reporting a 25 percent increase in 2014, Alina Necula, head of marketing & sales at Adama Group, told BR. Overall, there is growing demand for housing and the market is showing signs of maturing, she added. For once, buying a property is no longer seasonal as was the case a few years back and buyers are no longer reluctant to purchase a home during its development phase. Moreover, they are more informed and have a better understanding of the market context, she added. All this is also reﬂected in the ﬁnancing options available to home buyers. “Over the past few months banks have launched standard mortgage offers which are serious competition for Prima Casa and which are more advantageous for those who can afford to put down a larger deposit. In fact, even over the past year the government program has been exclusively for those who couldn’t

afford to pay a deposit of more than 5 percent under any circumstances,” said Necula. Nevertheless, the Prima Casa (First Home) state-guaranteed loan program will remain an important element of the local residential market in 2015 as well, but its contribution will not grow, she added. At present it is estimated that Prima Casa loans represent about half of the total number of mortgages in the country. As for the overall evolution of the market in 2015, Necula reckons that this year will be one of stabilization. “We strongly believe that we are heading towards a mature and stable market with no sudden upswings from one year to another but with constant positive evolution – a sustainable market,” she predicted.

More Prima Casa loans to be taken out in 2015 The government said it wants to allocate some RON 2.5 billion (approximately EUR 557 million) this year to Prima Casa to which will be added funds left unused from 2014 for state guarantees under the loan scheme. By comparison, last year a total of RON 2.3 billion was allocated as guarantees for 25,000 mortgages. The government-backed Prima Casa (First Home) scheme was set up in 2009 as a means to support the residential market by encouraging ﬁrst-time buyers to get on the property ladder. Over the following ﬁve years approximately 130,000 mortgages were taken out

under this program with a combined value of more than EUR 4.8 billion. Over the years the program has undergone several changes and since 2013 it is only available for loans in the local currency, a measure that also contributed to last year’s surge in RON-denominated mortgages. Unlike a regular mortgage, Prima Casa beneficiaries can buy an apartment or a house with a deposit of only five percent and half the credit risk is guaranteed by the state. This means that a total of at least EUR 5 billion of mortgages could be given in 2015 by the 18 banks participating in the program. This year the scheme could be changed to also include home-owners who want to upgrade to a larger property, announced finance minister Darius Valcov earlier this year. However, market representatives argue that this would have little impact on the total number of Prima Casa loans. Moreover, it could prove difficult to implement without creating a blockage, said Necula. While expanding the program to include more beneficiaries is a welcome measure, the government should consider other measures that could have a direct impact on the construction of new homes. “The government could turn its attention to an aspect that would clearly support real estate developments – expanding the 5 percent VAT threshold over the current RON 385,000 limit (e.n. approximately EUR 86,000), for example,” she recommended. simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

reAl estAte 9

bucharest’s new office supply to increase by 30 percent in 2015 Some 154,000 sqm of office space will be delivered this year in Bucharest out of which 28 percent has already been pre-leased, according to a DTZ Echinox report. ∫ siMoNA bAzAvAN After some 12 office buildings totaling 117,000 sqm were delivered in 2014, Bucharest’s modern office stock increased to approximately 2.16 million sqm at the end of the year, according to data from real estate services firm DTZ Echinox. Another 154,000 sqm is scheduled for completion in 2015 as part of office projects such as Bucharest One, developed by Globalworth, the second building of Skanska’s Green Court project, the final two development phases of AFI Business Park and the third building of Sema Office. Most of these developments are located in the Barbu Vacarescu area of Bucharest and in the western part of the capital. Office take-up is also expected to increase in 2015 after last year it went up by 38 percent y-o-y. Overall, the total leasing activity involving office space in

The ﬁnal two buildings of AFI Business Park will be completed in 2015

Bucharest stood at 298,000 sqm in 2014, of which take-up comprised 221,000 sqm. Out of this, new demand represented more than half. Deﬁned as expansions, relocations from old stock to class A & B oﬃce space, existing tenants opening new operations or new compa-

nies entering the market, it was up by cent), followed by Pipera south (24 per60 percent on 2013, according to DTZ cent) and west (13 percent). Compared with 2013, renewals and renegotiations Echinox data. “Considering that Bucharest is the dropped by 23 percent. Pre-leases represented the largest most developed office market in Romania and that given the overall occu- transactions by size in 2014. The report also reveals that between pancy costs and workforce productivity it continues to be an attractive destina- Q1 and Q4 2014, Bucharest’s average vation in the CEE region, we estimate that cancy rate for class A & B office space new demand will represent a significant dropped from 16.7 percent to 13.3 pershare of the total leasing activity this cent. The lowest levels were reported in year as well,” said Madalina Cojocaru, CBD (the central business district), folhead of the office department at DTZ lowed by the west and Pipera south (Dimitrie Pompeiu area). Echinox. The prime headline rent remained In the new demand structure, relocations within modern office stock “stable throughout the first three quaramounted to 108,000 sqm (with pre- ters of 2014. A slight increase of EUR 0.5 leases representing 61 percent), reloca- was recorded in Q4”. The prime headtions from old stock to class A&B office line rent at the end of last year was EUR space represented 40,000 sqm, while 18.5/sqm/month, however, “net effecthe volume of expansions and new en- tive rents continue to be 10-20 percent lower”. tries stood at 74,000 sqm. Most of the take-up was registered in the central-north submarket (46 per- simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

10 TAx & lAw

The dissolution of rasdaq market – potential unwanted effects on companies TAX&LAW By Veronica Alexeev,Lawyer, Schoenherr si Asociatii

Cristina Dumitrascu, Lawyer, Schoenherr si Asociatii

At the end of last year, a law was passed the main purpose of which is to dissolve the Rasdaq and unlisted securities markets; such purpose shall be achieved on 27 October 2015. This law is important for its addressees, but also for their suppliers, sponsors, contractual partners, considering the potential significant disruptions that may occur in the activity of the companies targeted by this law. Rasdaq is neither a regulated market, nor an alternative trading system, but it is a market presently operated by the Bucharest Stock Exchange under precarious and interpretable rules. It has also stirred up numerous controversies, when the European Union Court of Justice has issued a decision clearing out the status of this market and also due to the legal consequences of various operations carried out on this market. The law and its application regulation issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority requires the board of directors or the management board of issuers listed on the Rasdaq or on the unlisted securities market to convene and hold the extraordinary shareholders meeting

by 26 February 2016, having on the agenda the adoption of a resolution to carry out all necessary measures to list the shares on a regulated market (e.g. the regulated market operated by the Bucharest Stock Exchange or by Sibex) or on an alternative trading system (e.g. AERO – the alternative trading system operated by the Bucharest Stock Exchange). In respect of companies listed on the Rasdaq market, in all cases where no resolution for listing on a regulated market or on an alternative trading system is adopted, all shareholders have the right to withdraw from the company and request the company to purchase the shares at a price determined by an independent authorised expert appointed by the trade registry. Such cases when shareholders are entitled to withdraw from the company are: the management board/board of directors fails to convene the shareholders meeting within the prescribed period (i.e. the convening notice was not published by 26 January 2015); even if convened within the prescribed period, the shareholders meeting does not take place in the 120 dayperiod (i.e. by 26 February 2015), due to failure to meet the legal quorum requirements to pass valid resolutions; even if convened and assembled within the prescribed period, the shareholders meeting does not pass any resolution due to failure to meet the legal majority requirements; even if convened and assembled within the legal period, the shareholders meeting validly passes a resolution not to take measures to apply for admission to trading on a regulated market or list the shares on an alternative trading system.

A large number of companies listed on the Rasdaq market are already in the position where they are required to grant their shareholders the withdrawal right. If withdrawal right is exercised for a large number of shares, the company may face an urgent need of liquidity in order to pay the shares in respect of which withdrawal right has been exercised, which could result into a material decline of the financial indicators of that company. Both the banks and the contractual partners of such companies should keep an eagle’s eye on the development of the companies. The impairment of the financial indicators can determine the banks to accelerate financing agreements, in order to limit, as much as possible, the risk of a potential insolvency. Due care must be paid in respect of formalities that need to be fulfilled, if the shares that are subject to exercise of the withdrawal right are pledged to secure the shareholders’ obligations under various financing arrangements. In case Rasdaq companies will choose the path of the regulated market or of the alternative trading system, the law does not raise any specific concerns in respect of the financial soundness of the respective companies. However, failure to adopt such decision (including when there is a corporate inertia to adopt such decision) may raise certain issues; this is why each such case must be individually assessed by the stakeholders taking into consideration the shareholders’ goals, the potential shareholding structure after the exercise of the withdrawal right, as well as the arrangements to which the companies are part of.

Government announces ambitious plans to cut taxes, including vAT and flat tax ∫ simoNA bAzAvAN The government wants to cut the general level of VAT from 24 percent to 20 percent and slash it to 9 percent for meat, ﬁsh, vegetables and fruit from January 2016, according to the most recent changes to the draft Fiscal Code announced on February 18. The beginning of next year should also see the elimination of the tax on dividends paid by Romanian companies (currently 16 percent), the elimination of the special constructions tax (currently 1 percent), the introduction of a reverse taxation system for the delivery of buildings, excise tax cuts

for fuels, alcohol, and other products and the introduction of a new taxation system for micro-companies based on their number of employees. Also, local administrations will be able to hike taxes for property owners. The government plans further tax cuts beyond 2015. The biggest moves are expected to be a social security contribution cut for both employers (from 15.8 percent to 13.5 percent) and employees (from 10.5 percent to 7.5 percent) from January 2017, the reduction of VAT to 18 percent from January 2018 and a ﬂat tax cut from 16 percent to 14 percent in January 2019. These cuts are projected to have a negative budget impact of RON 6.8

billion (EUR 1.53 billion) in 2016 alone. For the next four years the measure will generate a RON 37 billion drop in revenues but half of this is forecast to be recovered through the positive effects the measures will have in the economy. While it is still unclear how the government will ﬁll the holes left by these cuts, it estimates the easing of the ﬁscal burden will help the economy grow by an additional 1.7 percent in 2016 (giving a total of 4.7 percent), 0.6 percent in 2017 (a total of 3.9 percent) and 0.7 percent in 2018 (4.2 percent). simona.bazavan@business-review.ro

briefs Proposed ‘culture tax’ will increase price of books, warn publishers The Federation of Publishers from Romania (FER) predicts that the shelf price of books will go up by between 7 and 10 percent should Parliament pass a bill on the introduction of a tax on all cultural products including novels, ﬁlms, concerts, exhibitions and theater plays. The tax would be similar to the one applied to cigarettes and alcoholic drinks and collected revenues would be directed towards creators’ unions and organizations. FER complains that in the case of books the only beneﬁciary would be the Union of Romanian Writers.

Generic drugs producers call for CNAs control after clawback tax hike The Association of Producers of Generic Drugs in Romania (APMGR) is urging the government to verify the data used by the National Health Insurance House (CNAS), after the hike in the clawback tax during the last quarter of 2014, which it calls unjustiﬁed. The p-value used in the calculation of the clawback tax rose to 25.23 percent in Q4, 2014 compared to 20.92 percent in Q3, 2014. However, Vasile Ciurchea, president of the CNAS, said the clawback tax had gone up because the number of insured individuals who received treatment for seasonal diseases was 200,000 higher in Q4 than during other quarters.

Clarifying legislation would encourage voluntary tax compliance by rich, says PwC Romania should clarify its legislation so that high net worth individuals with foreign-based ﬁnancial assets will feel encouraged to declare them to the Romanian tax authorities without the risk of being prosecuted, according to Mihaela Mitroi, tax and legal services leader at PwC Romania. Should this be done, there would be more high net worth individuals willing to comply with the tax legislation, which in turn would lead to higher tax revenues, she argued.

shoppers can report retailers not issuing tax receipts on free hotline Shoppers will be able to report retailers who do not issue tax receipts using a free telephone number provided by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), which stores will have to display from March 1, according to ﬁnance minister Darius Valcov. Plaintiffs should report by phone the store where they bought the product for which the retailer refused to issue a tax receipt and the date and time of call will be recorded automatically.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

12 HealtHcare

National health insurance card becomes compulsory this month As of this month, Romanians can start using their national health insurance card. From now on, patients will be able to use it whenever they see their doctor, go to the hospital or pharmacy. The card can also be used by providers of medical services and equipment. From May, the card will be the sole validation instrument for people insured in the public health system. ∫ Otilia Haraga Until April 30, the card can be used in parallel with the current system. After this date, it will become the only proof of entitlement to medical services in the public health insurance system, according to information from the National Health Insurance House (CNAS). Citizens who wish to check whether they are still insured in the public health system can do so simply by applying to the CNAS: only a personal ID card code is required to check eligibility. The application gives the date when the person became insured but does not give any details regarding the name of the family doctor or medical background. The system will also return the Insured Identification Code, which is printed on the health card. The national health insurance card serves to prove that the person is insured and also confirms their presence at the provider of medical services. The introduction of the cards is intended to reduce red tape and corruption in the medical sector. Those in need of emergency medical services will not need to provide a national health insurance card. These services are part of the minimum package of medical services that are provided both to insured and noninsured individuals. In the event of continuous hospitalization, the card will be used twice, upon admittance and discharge from hospital, so that the insurance beneficiary’s length of stay is clearly stipulated. During this time, no other services outside the hospital unit will be covered. Anytime the health card is used, the system will record the time and place. Children will not be provided with a health card and will receive medical services based on their parents’ card. Pregnant women, who do not pay social health contributions, will only be insured during their pregnancy. People who decline, for religious or other reasons, to use the national health card must submit a statement to the health insurance house they belong to, together with the national card that was distributed to them. Such patients may prove their eligibility through an insurance certification with a three-month validity which will be released by their health insurance house at their request. If the insured person loses the card or has to change the personal data on it,

Romanians must hold on tight to their health cards because from now on it will become the only proof of entitlement to medical services in the public system

a new one will be provided. The user must go to the insurance house to submit a request, a copy of their ID card and the cost of the card and postal delivery services. The production cost of the card is EUR 2.2 plus VAT, and the cost of distribution is RON 2.74 plus VAT. Within a month of submitting these documents, the beneficiary will receive a new card at home. During this time, the card will be inactive in the system and the holder can only access medical services based on a certificate that stipulates that the card is being replaced. The Romanian Post and the CNAS have signed an agreement for the distribution of health cards across the country. The RON 37.5 million (EUR 8.5 million) contract runs for four years, according to Romanian Post officials. The delivery of the health cards started on September 18. In total, approximately 13.6 million cards will be sent out over the four-year period. National health insurance cards not delivered by post will be distributed by health insurance houses. The insured person needs to either go to the health insurance house they belong to or to pick up the card from their family doctor when they show up for an appointment. The national health cards are printed solely with the personal identification data of the insured person. There is no medical information printed on the card, but this can be added by the family doctor, at the request of the patient. The card chip contains the following information: name and surname of the insured person, the unique code for identification in the social insurance system, the card identification number,

the birth date of the beneficiary and the validity period, which is five years. The card can be activated by any provider of medical services, with the exception of pharmacists. The insured person does not need to go to the doctor to activate the card. According to the president of the CNAS, activation takes about 30 seconds and consists of replacing the card’s default PIN with a four-digit PIN chosen by the insured. The new PIN is introduced and confirmed personally by the patient. The insured person must change the PIN, or else the card remains inactive and cannot confirm eligibility for medical services in the system. Once activated, the card must be used for every doctor’s appointment or visit to the pharmacy. The PIN will be introduced each time the insured person benefits from a medical service, for the validation and coverage of services from the public health insurance fund. But even though things appear simple on paper, the situation on the ground is different. Some family doctors have complained about problems in the activation of patients’ health cards. “We have not managed to use the health cards, because the application is not working. The system is blocked,” a family doctor in Bucharest told Mediafax newswire. The president of the National Society for Family Medicine, Rodica Tanasescu, said that activation of the health cards burdened GPs. “This is just another burden. We have activated several hundred cards, but there were days when the system simply did not work or there were problems with the card. For the problems that we

could not solve, we sent the insured persons to the Health Insurance House,” she told Mediafax newswire. According to GPs, the activation of the card takes longer than announced by the CNAS management. Tanasescu said that card activation takes between three and five minutes. “We need several minutes for the activation of the card. We also agreed to activate the card of the husband, wife and child where one family member comes to the consultation with the others’ cards,” she said. According to the CNAS president, Vasile Ciurchea, in the cases where the card could not be activated, this was due to an incompatibility issue. “The providers using a different application than the one placed at their disposal free of charge by the CNAS must make their personal system compatible with that of the CNAS. In all the rules on validating the contract for the provision of medical assistance, it is stipulated clearly that all reports must be submitted into a system that is compatible with the CNAS application. So they should either take the application free of charge from us or bring a specialist to make the two systems compatible,” said the president of the CNAS. The health card is blocked when the PIN code is entered wrongly five consecutive times. In this situation, the doctor should call the helpdesk on 021 202 69 95 or send an e-mail to suport.ceas@casan.ro, and give the necessary information regarding the blocked card. The phone number printed on the health card, 0800 800 950, is for insured people who have questions about their health card. Providers of medical services must call the helpdesk to receive the necessary support. According to the CNAS management, a unified and centralized helpdesk solution will be implemented in order to optimize and simplify all procedures related to the CNAS IT system. The national health insurance card does not work when the user is in another EU country. Romanians intending to travel elsewhere in the bloc are advised to obtain the European health insurance card based on which they will receive medical assistance, but only in certain state clinics and hospitals in the public system of the country in question. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

14 cover sTory

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

Ten and counting: the survivors of a decade on the local market Several major companies are marking ten years of presence in Romania this year, having responded to the challenges brought about by the economic crisis to cope with the leaner modern marketplace.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

∫ ANdA sebesI

MAcroecoNoMy Between 2005 and 2014 Romania went through a complete economic cycle. The economic boost between 2005 and 2008 based on the favorable international context and accession to the European Union was followed by the economic crisis between 2009 and 2012 and a slow recovery that is still unconsolidated. There were years when foreign investments and money sent by Romanians working abroad seemed set to help Romania close the gap with other EU countries. “To sum up, these ten years brought the macroeconomic indicators to a balance, a sustainable and solid

Daniela Nemoianu, executive partner at KPMG Romania

level,” says Dragos Cabat, manager at RisCo. Daniela Nemoianu, executive partner at KPMG Romania, says that EU membership and the strategic NATO alliance are Romania’s main achievements in the last decade. “These two essential vectors have triggered the modernization of the country, structural economic reforms, implementation of international and EU standards in all business sectors, and application of certain guidance rules and parameters meant to generate stability and development,” she says. Back in 2005 many analysts agreed that Romania was about ten years behind Poland economically. It is well known that the ﬁrst ten years after the ‘89 Revolution that Romania fell well behind. “Poland was particularly eﬃcient in attracting European funds and private foreign investments, and encouraging domestic capital. I think that the gap between the two coun-

than on the internal capabilities,” says the manager of RisCo. But there is no doubt that the business environment and the economy in general have progressed in terms of diversity, complexity, EU and international standards and global interconnectivity. The difficulty is the discrepancies between urban and rural areas, certain regions as well as fields of activity and the public sector (including privatizations and state owned companies). “The local business environment is still far from a level playing field. In the absence of strategic priorities and a solid and sustainable country model, the economy is distorted by corruption, tax evasion and low tax collection, as well as the lack of sufficient financing (including the low level of EU funds),” says Nemoianu. She adds that the increase of taxation translates into compression of investment volumes and appetite for businesses for Romania as such an unpredictable environ-

Top 5 manufacturing companies founded in 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover (roN) Position

company

2013 turnover (roN)

Continental Automotive Systems SRL

2,228,473,646

Makita EU SRL

488,400,427

Leoni Wiring Systems Pitesti SRL

406,024,627

Benrom SRL

303,535,335

Kromberg&Schubert Romania ME SRL

259,556,521

Source: ONRC

Auchan Romania, Continental Automotive Systems, Strabag, Ikea, Genpact, BCR Asigurari de Viata, Bitdefender, SAP Romania and Balkan Petroleum. What do all these companies have in common? They are all celebrating ten years on the Romanian market this year, and rank among the most significant brands that started out on the local scene in 2005. They are also among the top 50 companies founded in 2005 ranked by turnover in 2013, based on data provided by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC). The cumulated turnover posted by the top ten players in the 2013 ranking is RON 9.5 billion (EUR 2.15 billion)* while the companies making up the top 100 had a total turnover of RON 19.7 billion (EUR 4.4 billion). Production and commerce are the industries with the most representatives in the top 100, while automotive, finance, electrical equipment manufacturing, energy, construction, consultancy services, services, transportation, IT & telecom, food and real estate have the fewest players on the list. About half of the names in the top 100 have their registered office in Bucharest (45), while Sibiu, Ilfov, Arges, Alba, Timis, Bihor, Brasov, Braila, Dambovita, Vrancea, Hunedoara, Alba, Salaj, Iasi, Tulcea, Constanta, Satu Mare, Arad, Bacau, Cluj, Galati, Giurgiu, Suceava, Botosani, Prahova and Ialomita also host registered offices of top 100 firms.

cover sTory 15

tries remains at about ten years and it ment can only cause business distress will be difficult to recover it now in and pressure on consumers. “Adding the new economic conditions when the massive bureaucracy, incidents the GDP increase is not so big any- affecting the rule of law and the authorities’ lack of administrative camore,” adds Cabat. In addition, Poland has had the pacity, the poor infrastructure and aligned political and leadership drive the ‘brain drain’ phenomenon, it is to implement modern strategies, poli- obvious that we currently face significies and measures, including neces- cant risks in terms of decreasing sary corrections and protective competitiveness, an imbalanced low changes to allow better positioning level growth, and unstable future dewithin the EU and a boost for the velopment,” says the KPMG represeneconomy. All of these still put Poland tative. Pundits say that much more could far ahead of Romania. Companies have had a rough ride have been achieved during the past in the last decade as they needed to ten years in terms of a level playing adjust their businesses. While some field for the business environment, firms saw their sales and profits fall or predictability of regulations, measwere forced to declare insolvency, ures to encourage direct investments others consolidated their position on and modern infrastructure. Instead the market thanks to their more sta- there has been a significant loss of opble financial structure. They have portunity (the lowest EU funds abended up being more competitive at sorption rate in CEE) and an European level now. Cabat says that a aggravation of systemic problems like lack of capacity to attract European corruption and poor infrastructure. funds, corruption in the local busi- “The Romanian state has proved to be ness environment and the lack of a weak, disorganized and inconsistent national strategy to influence the for obvious causes and reasons. The course of the local economy are some incentives granted in the past helped of Romania’s failings. “The structure raise investors’ interest; however the of our economy still depends signifi- current status is not likely to competcantly on the strategies of our eco- itively attract or encourage investnomic partners from the EU rather ments in Romania. Changes needed

Madalina Rachieru, counsel at Clifford Chance Badea

pertain to integrated programs for entrepreneurs and SMEs, acceleration of EU funds absorption, building quality infrastructure, prioritizing key industries and projects, tax and legal predictability and the elimination of corruption,” says Nemoianu. During the last decade we have helped bring about a change in the way businesses were focused on the healthy growth of their business rather than short-term profitability. We can also see the maturing of both businesses and consumers,” adds Cabat. According to Nemoianu, the business environment has proven its resilience to the turbulence of the local and international markets. “The absence of a long-term strategic country model and the frequent changes in legislation, especially in taxation, combined with the complexity of the challenges mean companies, investors and entrepreneurs have had to re-invent themselves and adapt to endure. This struggle for survival can have a selective role, but not if impacted by corruption,” she adds. As for the SMEs segment, it has been under significant pressure as access to financing, human capital and business opportunities was challenging. Also, disruption of market flows, in terms of payment discipline, quality of products, services and works, and delays of EU-funded projects had a negative impact on competitiveness, business continuity and potential to grow size and capabilities. Cabat says that SMEs need to become a source of products and services efficiently offered both to end consumers and large companies. In his opinion, the downturn has significantly cleaned up the SMEs sector, eliminating those companies with an incoherent business model or a weak foundation. “From this perspective, the maturation of the SMEs sector is one of the biggest advantages of the last ten years,” says Cabat.

FINANcIAL sysTeMs The last decade was split almost in half by the greatest economic and ﬁnancial crisis in recent history.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

16 COvER STORY agendas, along with further consolidation of the industry,” concludes Rachieru.

Top 5 retail companies founded in 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover (RON) Company

2013 turnover (RON)

Auchan Romania

2,300,730,369

Procter&Gamble Distribution SRL

1,217,167,184

Ikea Romania SRL

360,598,913

Rodbun Grup SRL

305,812,251

Picara Trading SRL

152,806,050

The financial markets were affected accordingly, Romania included. The years before 2008-2009 saw considerable growth, which came to an abrupt stop, with the modern Romanian financial industry facing its first crisis. “What followed was a period of deep restructuring, with new challenges and priorities. The current strategies are mostly focused on cleaning up balance sheets and consolidation,” says Madalina Rachieru, counsel at Clifford Chance Badea. Compared to 2005, commentators now talk about a more cautious and sophisticated industry addressing an in-

Miruna Enache, partner in ﬁscal assistance at EY Romania

FISCAL FRAMEWORK

Source: ONRC

Position

tional markets, initially worth up to EUR 7 billion and updated to EUR 15 billion in 2014. Plus, October 2013 saw the dual listing of shares and GDRs (a first for Romania) by Romgaz on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges while Electrica followed almost a year later, with its dual listing of shares and GDRs on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges. “I would also add the current focus on cleaning up balance sheets, with banks selling or discussing the sale of non-performing loans (NLPs) portfolios,” adds Rachieru. Specialists say that the Romanian financial system has strong fundamentals and has fared much better during the crisis than other economies, also due to the sound supervision and rules of the National Bank. However there are still steps to be made. “The banking sector, currently undergoing a longawaited consolidation, is still the most developed sector and the number one financing source for both retail and business clients. Amid continued efforts to strengthen banks’ position on the market and manage risks, we expect new agreements for NPLs portfolio sales to be announced in the near future,” says the representative of Clifford Chance Badea. She believes that further development of the capital market is needed, as it can be a major driver for the local economy. “Successful transactions recently launched by Romanian companies have confirmed the interest of international investors and such momentum should be taken advantage of. We also expect reputational risks to count more and more on top executives’

creasingly educated and demanding market. On the downside, financial institutions face increased competition, accumulating bad debt and intensifying regulatory pressures. The capital markets have also been adversely affected by the difficult market conditions and have been characterized by volatility. “Romania moved quickly from accelerated growth and a sense of abundance to an abrupt awakening, which revealed that the fundamentals of the previous growth were not that strong. The financial industry has mirrored both these stages, initially fuelling growth and then echoing the decline,” says Rachieru. In her opinion, there have been many achievements over the years, including the RON re-denomination (July 2005); the establishment of the Central Depository (in 2007) and the IMF stand-by agreement (March 2011). In addition, in June 2011, Romania Madi Radulescu, managing partner at successfully launched a Medium Term MMM Consulting and executive coach Note (MTN) Programme on interna- & learning architect

Specialists say that the last decade has brought an advancing and maturation process of the taxation, taxpayers and authorities that create and implement the fiscal legislation. “The evolution of the fiscal framework has been significant. Both the Fiscal Code and Fiscal Procedure Code began to be clearer during this period. There could be written a history of the Fiscal Code between 2005 and 2015 as new concepts ap- Mihai Rada, director at KPMG, peared, with the flat tax (16 percent) im- advisory plemented in 2005 probably the most important one,” says Miruna Enache, partner in fiscal assistance at EY Roma- sional and mature. “I don’t know if anynia. She says that the lack of stability one rushes to launch a business. But generated by the frequent changes to those who have a better business plan the fiscal legislation was one of the evaluate the risks, look for solid partbiggest challenges for the local business nerships, think global and train their environment. “There were at least five people to use a common language with changes in each of the previous years the corporations to which they offer but there were also years with a record their services or supply their products,” of more than ten changes,” says Enache. says Radulescu. She also thinks that “Some changes brought clarifications or there has been a fundamental change in fiscal incentives. But in the financial the way local entrepreneurs do business. and economic field any legal change “I refer to the mass of Romanian entreneeds time to be implemented and gen- preneurs who work hard, take care of their employees and as a principle reerates costs.” The EY representative urged the Fi- spect the law. At present we have many nance Ministry to consult the local busi- Romanian entrepreneurial companies ness community about tax laws. “This as customers that have understood and cooperation can be improved and we run training and coaching programs, orbelieve that its results are always ganize projects that lead to learning and healthy.” In her opinion Romania’s leg- generate results in their business and islation could be better and has provi- form both leaders and managers.” According to Radulescu, while in sions that support investments like the reinvestment of profits. “However in 2005 the Romanian entrepreneur was practice the fiscal system needs to be often directive, autocratic and a control more predictable since tax inspections freak, in 2015 he or she is virtual, interstill spring surprises even on those tax- national and charismatic. “I think that payers that are well prepared,” adds the need to hold on in business has genEnache. As for incentives for SMEs, erated strong leadership in the RomanEnache says that the fiscal system con- ian entrepreneurial environment. Plus, tains some significant improvements in the past ten years many managers for them like the flat tax and tax-free have decided or were forced to leave the reinvested profit under some condi- corporations they worked for and tions while the R&D and IT fields are en- started businesses. They came with couraged. “More can be done especially skills and a way of understanding work if the open dialogue with the business with people. In essence, they came with community is continuous and encour- a different and more modern manageaged,” concludes the EY representative. ment style adapted to the current stage,” says the MMM representative. “I think that in 2015 many entrepreneurs disENTREPRENEURSHIP The last decade was tough for the ma- covered that the market is global and jority of entrepreneurs active on the Ro- they can compete everywhere in the manian market regardless of their size world and dare to develop business that or field of activity. Seven out of ten they hadn’t thought about in 2005. Back years were marked by the impact of the then development was oriented toglobal economic crisis and its negative wards the local market, real estate deeffects. There were a lot of bankruptcies, velopment, increased business volumes changes and a steep learning curve for and employment. Since the crisis, the those entrepreneurs who took their entrepreneur who managed to get out business to the next level. “There were of the downturn is the one who has years that consolidated the entrepre- proven to be agile, flexible and has neurial environment so today we have grown his or her business throughout a series of successful Romanian entre- the crisis,” concludes Radulescu. preneurs that can talk on an equal footing with businesspeople around the TECHNOLOGY world,” says Madi Radulescu, managing The last decade was a fruitful period for partner at MMM Consulting and execu- the technology field in Romania. It tive coach & learning architect. brought both the transition of analog In her opinion entrepreneurial spirit communications to those based on the has been refined and became profes- newest digital such as 3G, LTE, WiMAX,

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COvER STORY 17

The main milestones in local technology in the last decade l Development and implementation of fixed and mobile broadband elec-

tronic communication standards such as 3G, 4G and NGN;

l The evolution of smart terminals: smartphones, tablets, portable media

players;

l Triple Play and 4 Play: transmission of voice (telephony), image (televi-

sion, teleconferences) and data (internet) can be done now through a unique and highly effective network; l Geo positioning technologies: positioning services allowed the development of some web and mobile applications with high social utility: l Cloud: the change of an IT paradigm that will impact significantly other fields of activity, including education; l Social media development: social media became the fastest and most efficient method to distribute information, promote products and even increase the number of potential customers.

Georgiana Trandaﬁr, managing partner at Trandaﬁr&Asociatii

Source: KPMG Romania DVB-T and the mobilization of many products and services in the local economy such as electronic commerce, the implementation of online and mobile payments and mobile banking. “The telecommunication sector underwent dynamic changes in the last decade characterized by liberalization, privatization, restructuring and the development of a very competitive environment. All of these elements generated and supported significant technological development,” says Mihai Rada, director at KPMG, advisory. He adds that telecommunications are no longer considered a luxury or a difficult to access service. On the contrary, they are a component of day-to-day life both for personal and business interests. The IT & telecommunication sector continued to develop in the last ten years despite the crisis, becoming one of the main factors of an increased productivity that supported economic development as a whole. Rada cites the implementation of the last generation technologies by some of the largest international companies in the field (Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telecom). In addition, the Romanian IT sector created many brands with international exposure (RAV, Bitdefender and eMAG). “In this period we witnessed major consolidations on the IT&C market,” says

the KPMG representative, referring to Zapp and the merger of Romtelecom and Cosmote. Zapp, the first local mobile phone operator and the initiator of internet and wireless telephony in Romania, was drafted by OTE and Cosmote into the integrated operator Telekom. As for the merger between Romtelecom and Cosmote, Rada says that it was a very big move. “Actually it was a merger between a company with operations in the fixed telephony, TV and internet with one that provided mobile telephony and Internet,” says the KPMG official. He adds that district networks market reached a high level of maturity as larger companies showed interested in extending their customer portfolios by both gaining new subscribers and taking over those of smaller companies by acquiring them. “Offers to take over the district networks by larger players in the field became more frequent,” says Rada. The telecommunication field remains a dynamic market where the diversity of content and applications and the combination of services have a crucial influence on the decisions made by businesses. “Telecom operators face a growing pressure to offer diversified services at a higher quality and lower tariffs. And this takes place in a more

Top 5 services companies founded in 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover (RON) Company

2013 turnover (RON)

Global E-Business Operations Centre SRL

336,675,269

Genpact Romania SRL

315,374,493

BCR Asigurari de Viata Vienna Insurance Group SA

293,176,043

Regiotrans SRL

223,990,487

Duvenbeck Logistik SRL

208,947,611

Source: ONRC

Position

dynamic economic context for the telecom market, where incomes generated by conventional services only, like voice or data are decreasing,” he adds. In his opinion this is the result of fiercer competition generated by the emergence of communication convergent technologies and Next Generation Network networks where the differences between voice, data and video services became more and more insignificant while the fight to gain and retain customers is ever tougher. “Technological developments from the past ten years contributed to an increase in the efficiency of economic activities boosting the competition in the Romanian business environment. Plus, the behavior of online buyers is more and more based on other users’ opinions so we can talk about a new market profile,” concludes Rada.

EUROPEAN FUNDS The current mechanism for accessing European Funds has been in place since January 1 2007 when Romania acceded to the European Union. Prior to that date the country had at its disposal only pre-accession funds such as Phare, SAPARD and ISPA. “The overall absorption rate of EU funds increased every year for each of the seven operational programs available for Romania from 2007-2013. However, the absorption rate was 55.86 percent at the end of December last year, according to the official data published by the Romanian government through the European funds minister. The stats indicate that the average absorption rate increased constantly after 2012 from under 20 percent to 55.86 percent in December last year,” says Georgiana Trandafir, managing partner at Trandafir&Asociatii. She adds that despite this about EUR 8 billion of EUR 19.21 billion in total has yet to be spent. Agriculture, human resources, IT and energy were among the fields that benefited greatly from EU funds in this period. According to public data, the absorption rate in agriculture was about 87.33 percent at the end of last December. Tourism benefited from significant resources while major progress has been made in agro-tourism, local and national infrastructure. “In the rural sector mainly through POR (Programul Operational Regional) investments

were made that connected local communities to water alimentation and sanitation, the internet and natural gases,” says Trandafir. Meanwhile, POS Environment (POS Mediu) had an absorption rate of 42.28 percent of the total EU funds followed by POSDRU (46.53 percent), according to the public data. The economic crisis that started around 2007-2008 in Romania showed the value of EU funds in supporting the sectors from the local economy that were hit hard by the economic contraction. “Building contractors needed to reorient their business from private beneficiaries to public ones that implemented projects financed through European funds,” says the representative of Trandafir&Asociatii. In her opinion the financial programs are more accessible now than in the past as management authorities had the chance to respond to the defects that appeared in the process of accessing and using EU funds. “There was a difficult period of accommodation for both public administration and private beneficiaries,” Trandafir says. She adds that the guides for applicants are clearer now and can be more easily understood by those who intend to access non-refundable finance. “The process of evaluation of projects has improved from one call to another while the waiting period has diminished. This reduced the period to get the money from EU funds,” adds Trandafir. But she says that the project implementation generates the biggest difficulties for beneficiaries because there are specific rules on how to spend funds from European Commission. Plus, beneficiaries need to spend some money in advance and then wait for reimbursement from the management authorities, which makes this phase the most difficult one. As a consequence, it involves substantial management efforts from both the beneficiaries and authorities. “The reimbursement of the money spent requires strict analysis by the responsible management authority. Unfortunately little progress has been made so far in reducing the bureaucracy of this process,” says Trandafir. “However we notice that management authorities decided to outsource the evaluation services and this should allow them to respect the reimbursement schedule by reducing the period of analysis.” In her opinion the European funds allotted for the next period should have a bigger impact on the development of the local economy than in 2007-2013. “I think that Romania has learned from its mistakes. It has improved the procedures to access European funds and consolidated the expertise of the authorities from this field. In addition, professionals in the private field have already been trained to offer at a high level of professionalism the consultancy needed for applicants to access European funds and implement the projects successfully,” concludes the Trandafir&Asociatii representative. anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

18 INTERvIEW

Octagon aims to enter top ten construction companies Alexandros Ignatiadis, CEO and majority stockholder at Octagon Contracting & Engineering, tells Business Review about the company’s major achievements over the last decade and its plans for the future on the local and international market. ∫ ANDA SEbESI

Octagon Contracting & Engineering

What has ten years of presence on the Romanian market meant for Octagon? We can only have a view of the development of Octagon in the context of the market on which we have operated during the last decade. From this perspective our presence was a constant fight in a hostile environment, dominated by multinational companies, corruption, political interference and an acute crisis that generated a contraction of about 40 percent in construction industry turnover. If we were to sum up this period we could say that it was a “Montagne rousee” journey with fewer survivors. What have the company’s most important achievements been over these ten years? Consolidation of the management team and human resources – a crucial factor for any construction company – and creation of both a portfolio of significant projects and experience needed to position us on the market have been two of our major achievements. Plus we won the trust of some significant customers – local blue chips and international companies. So we managed to earn the reputation of a quality constructor and as a result customers came back to us to sign contracts for new projects.

Established: 2005 Field of activity: civil and geotechnical constructions 2013 turnover: EUR 19.6 million 2014 turnover: EUR 12 million 2015 estimated turnover: EUR 24 million Number of employees: 178 (in Romania), 26 (in Iraq) consortium. Third, the construction as general building contractor of Building B from the Hermes Business Campus oﬃce complex for the Belgian developer Atenor Group.

alyzed and the whole economic environment is poisoned because some businessmen are considered no better than thieves.

How would you describe the development of the business environment in How would you describe the developyour ten years of presence on the Ro- ment of your industry throughout this period? manian market? We can say that the business environ- From 2005 to 2015 the construction ment has grown in the past ten years industry has faced a complete cycle of through an increase in the volume of “boom and bust” that included things foreign investments and the emer- like the unhealthy and rapid growth gence of local entrepreneurs that are of companies with uncontrolled corindependent from the political ruption, unsustainable real estate inenvironment and businesses with the vestments, legal flux and a negative Romanian state. We can also notice a political involvement. The “bust” pattern of accusations against the part was characterized by the de-capwhole business environment. We see italization of local companies and every day arrests, raids of firms many bankruptcies with the number and announcements of cases against of companies halved. To sum up, the major businessmen. Without construction industry is now on its speaking about the merit of such knees. cases I would say that the spread of this phenomenon paralyzes the How do you see the Romanian economy whole economy, as lenders don’t now compared to 2005? have the courage to finance busi- If we look at the Romanian economy nesses because they are afraid that in its European context, we can say their reputation might be damaged. that it is in a better position now than In addition, state institutions are par- ten years ago. The economic down-

turn and the massive collapse of economies in Southern Europe along with the problems that countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain have faced have improved Romania’s current economic perspectives. At the macroeconomic level, Romania is in a better economic situation than these countries. What have been your company’s most important projects in the last decade in Romania? All the projects we were and still are involved in are important in terms of professionalism and the great attention we pay to our customers. Octagon is a “service contractor” not a “litigation contractor”. I will mention three projects that have had a special signiﬁcance in our evolution. First, the infrastructure developments for Sky Tower – Floreasca Park, the highest building in Romania, developed by Raiffeisen Evolution. Second, the execution as general sub-undertaker of the civil developments at the 867 MW cogeneration power plant for OMV-Petrom, under the GE-Metka

Octagon develops projects both in Romania and Iraq. When did this expansion abroad start and what was the reason behind it? During the crisis and in the context of the European economic decline we decided to look for new markets that offer perspectives for growth and resources to ﬁnance infrastructure developments. This was the idea that led us to Iraq back in 2012. Unfortunately, despite correct economic analysis, the volatile political situation in the Middle East restrained the predicted evolution. We are seriously analyzing the possibility of extending our activity on mature EU markets like France, Belgium and Germany. How do you see Octagon ten years from now from the development perspective? What about the local economy? We intend to put Octagon in the top ten construction companies in Romania. Capitalization through an IPO on the Bucharest Stock Exchange is another plan and we aim to extend on other European markets. As for Romania’s economic future, there are very good conditions for this country to grow within the European Union if we manage to protect the economy from direct political interventions, reach political and legal stability and get an independent and professional justice system. anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

OPINION Costin Matache, Executive Director, Ymens

One year in the technology world equals ten in other industries One year in the technology world is the equivalent of ten years in other industries. The technological progress in the past decade is unbelievable and is reflected in our everyday personal and professional lives, from the devices we use and the seamless connectivity they ensure, to instant access to data from anywhere, anytime and to the various ways we use and benefit from this data. Cloud computing was indeed just a buzzword six or seven years ago but now, even in Romania, we’re seeing that more and more businesses are starting to rely on cloud environments, both public and hybrid ones. The synergy between cloud and mobile has allowed new concepts like IoT (Internet of Things) and Big Data to spread globally now that people are connected to the internet though billions of applications and devices worldwide. It is estimated that by 2025, cloud technology will have an economic impact of up to USD 6.2 trillion per year, according to a McKinsey Global Institute whitepaper published in 2013. The bulk of this will be attributable to internet applications and services dependent on cloud computing technology. Cloud offers access to huge amounts of data without the hassle of the necessary storage, while allowing both companies and public institutions to access the latest generation technologies that drive productivity and efficiency. Besides that, cloud makes room for business managers to become more creative, driving innovation and economic growth. The worldwide cloud market is rapidly growing. Gartner predicts strong growth across all public cloud services market segments, with a CAGR of 17.3 percent from 2013 through 2018. End-user spending on public cloud services is expected to reach almost USD 250 billion by 2017, including cloud advertising. The Romanian cloud market is still in an early stage of development, but the potential for growth is significant; in this respect, the local market is expected to outstrip the advance forecasted for the worldwide cloud market. By using cloud solutions, Romanian organizations gain quick and easy access to cutting-edge IT resources that support operational efficiency, an enhanced business performance and the consumption of IT without significant investments.

In 2014, approximately 12-15 percent of SMEs in Romania were using at least one cloud solution as a service (SaaS), according to a SMBs whitepaper published by the National Council of Small and Medium Private Enterprises in Romania. As for corporations, it is estimated that by 2017, all big companies in Romania will use cloud solutions, according to a survey by CIO Council. The market is also confirming growing interest in cloud business solutions such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), communication and collaboration solutions and content and document management solutions. When it comes to cloud, customers are generally looking for simplicity, quality and support. Since they came to believe that cloud can indeed help them drive new business and innovation within their companies, their expectations have also risen. A visible trend in the Romanian market is the expansion of cloud computing capa-

bilities for medium and large companies, most commonly linked with public, private or hybrid cloud models. In terms of expectations, we’re seeing similar behaviors as in the more developed cloud markets. For example, a study released in 2014 by EMA (Enterprise Management Associates) identifies among the top reasons for pursuing cloud, business agility, application scalability and budgetary considerations. Customers are becoming increasingly demanding from the cloud offerings available on the market, directly linking their requirements to their main selection criteria. As the first cloud broker in Romania, Ymens has continuously invested in developing its product portfolio in order to meet the market requirements and to deliver mature, solid and proven cloud solutions to its customers. Trying also to bridge the gap between people and technology, we have developed a broad range of services. We provide our customers with training, business and technological

consultancy, customization and development services, as well as IT managed services. In terms of cloud business solutions, we have built our portfolio based on the market trends. According to our studies, over 30 percent of SME entrepreneurs are considering using new technologies to develop new business opportunities. The solutions hosted on the Ymens platform respond to various business needs and benefit from an intuitive interface, which makes them easy to use by any organization, from the smallest to the largest, regardless of the industry. With 11 cloud applications in the platform and a wide range of services, Ymens’ offer includes: the CRM suite of solutions for the efficient management of customer relationships, the ERP suite of solutions, dedicated to the planning and optimization of the resources and processes within the company, and the productivity suite, with a direct impact on improving results in the collaboration and communication area. The future of technology is limitless. Everything we see in science fiction movies could become reality. The power and the synergy between cloud and mobile will certainly conclude in innovating technologies within the IoT. Research & development plays a key role in this technological evolution and intelligent objects, M2M, predictive analytics and big data tools are just some of the new things the global tech industry will exploit in the coming years. Personally, I believe that in the next decade we have a great chance of seeing a world fully connected to the internet. Today, there are still some parts of the world where the internet that is such a commodity for most is actually a distant concept. I think that amazing technological advancement and progress will start once that last billion people are connected to the internet. From that point we can start talking about a truly spectacular technological advance and the global transformation of society through innovative technologies. Once any form of technology is connected to the Internet – TVs, smartphones, robots, ATMs, vertical applications, security services, analytics platforms and many others – we will witness new means of storage, usage and sharing of information in our everyday lives as well as our businesses.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

20 INTERvIEW

More ups and fewer downs on a difficult market Andreas Feichtlbauer, executive director at agricultural player Biso Romania, tells Business Review how the company has overcome challenges such as adverse weather and low cereal prices and shares the results of an HR study conducted to shed light on its employer branding. ∫ ANDA SEbESI

Biso Romania

What do ten years on the Romanian market mean for biso Romania? For Biso, ten years of presence on the Romanian market have meant constant hard work in the name of our customers. This period might be nothing compared to the development of the world, but it was a time when we grew from zero to a value that is recognized by our customers. And we did it our way. For sure there were ups and downs, but the important thing is that we had more ups than downs. We are ranked among the top ﬁve players active in the agricultural equipment ﬁeld now.

Established: 2005 Field of activity: imports of agricultural equipment Number of employees: 91 Number of products in portfolio: 350 (international brands and company’s brand, Biso) Number of branches in Romania: 10 Number of customers in Romania: 1,900 Estimated growth of turnover in the ﬁrst semester of 2014 on the same period of 2013: 7 percent

What are the company’s main achievements of the last decade? The 2008-2009 period was a very difficult one. The worldwide crisis combined with decreasing cereal prices forced us to struggle hard in order to survive. But such transitional periods motivate us to work harder in order to be prepared for the next difficult time. In addition, 2013 was a challenging year, both because of the significant rainfall and the very low cereal prices, plus the difficult context in some EU countries like Greece. All these factors directly influenced the market. The result is that Biso came out stronger than before. While in 2014 our company focused on improving processes in order to meet the needs of farmers better and more quickly, in 2015 we are determined to continue this strategy and benefit from the power that affiliation to the Austrian Biso Schrattenecker Group offers us. 2015 is an anniversary year for Biso Group and we are preparing to make an announcement to farmers and our business partners that will change the way agriculture is done today. In the last few years we have managed to open new Biso branches in Romania, in order to be closer to the farmers. Now we are present in ten counties – Calarasi, Tulcea, Constanta, Ialomita, Buzau, Galati, Teleorman, Dolj, Neamt and Arad. In addition, in the last years we have invested about EUR 7.5 million in the development of our main offices in Drajna (Calarasi), which have a very modern showroom, and the service and spare parts departments. How has the business environment developed in these ten years? The business environment has changed

from a very poor to medium-quality agricultural equipment market to a more and more diversiﬁed one, with small, medium and large farmers. Each of them has his or her place on the market while the development of this ﬁeld continues. It is important that the agricultural sector is growing while farmers are becoming more and more skilled in farm management. This shift towards a more mature industry is supported by various other factors. For example, local universities have adjusted their learning program in order to meet the needs of more modern agriculture. Also, several specialized international companies are present in Romania and offer consultancy on agricultural operations. Things are moving much faster than in Western Europe, which requires constant adjustment to the market. How have agriculture and the agricultural equipment industry developed in this period? The Romanian agricultural equipment industry has grown constantly, mainly due to imports from countries such as Austria, Germany, Hungary and even

the United States, so the farmers’ perspective has been changed. They are investing more and more based on a long-term vision and looking more closely at modern technologies. At present, there are farmers who use the latest technology and equipment launched at international level. All of this should be seen in the context of the fluctuations of international cereal prices which we cannot avoid, as 95 percent of our industry depends on them. The difficult subsidies mechanism also influences this market. Fortunately, Biso Romania has launched some financial solutions in order to alleviate farmers’ dependence on them. When you marked ten years of presence on the Romanian market you conducted a study on the concept of employer branding at biso Romania. What were its main conclusions? The Biso Romania Employer Branding Study evaluates how the company is perceived by its employees. The initiative identified flexibility, professionalism and competitiveness as the top three qualities that best define Biso Ro-

mania as an employer, compared with other agricultural equipment companies present on the Romanian market. Vision, courage and strategy are the top three company values, according to our team. The HR market in the agricultural equipment industry has a marked need for professional development, while the opportunities in this direction remain minimal – few specialized training programs and projects offer the possibility of career development. In this context, the study shows that opportunities for professional development, the team of professionals and the working conditions have a special importance to the company’s employees. Forty percent of them gave the maximum score (ﬁve points) in answer to the question, “How proud are you working for Biso Romania?”. The results of the study conﬁrm the company’s efforts towards permanent development and being in line with the latest trends on the international agricultural equipment market, in order to help farmers choose the right equipment for their farm. This perspective offers our employees an ongoing development context. How do you see biso Romania in ten years? What about the Romanian economy? We will focus on increasing professionalism, and creating value for farmers and our business partners. The projections for the end of this year depend on our team and external factors we cannot control or predict, like the cereal prices and weather conditions that are crucial in agriculture. anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

22 iNtERviEW

CEZ Romania: over EUR 2 billion of investments in ten years Martin Zmelik, country manager and president of the board at CEZ Romania, tells Business Review about the local economic climate over the past decade and outlines the company’s main investments and achievements since its entrance on the Romanian market. flected in the financial results. 2012 was the year when the largest onshore wind farm in Europe became fully operational and also the year of the highest values at group level for CEZ in Romania. In 2013, several client services were refined and optimized and the refurbishment project in Resita was successfully completed. In 2014, the jury of the Romanian Energy Award Gala selected the project as the best renewable project of the year. Another very important award for us in 2014 was Best Corporate Citizen for our contribution to the community’s welfare under the platform “Energie pentru Bine”.

∫ ANdA SEbESi What do its ten years on the Romanian market mean for CEZ Romania? CEZ Romania has a decade long story in Romania including more than EUR 2.2 billion of investments and constant portfolio growth. Every year in Romania has brought new projects, new investments and solid partnership with the community. We entered the Romanian market in 2005 when, based on the sound local regulatory framework (distribution tariff methodology), CEZ decided to bid for 51 percent of Electrica Oltenia, the largest distribution company in Romania, with its approximately 1.4 million consumers. The main objective after the takeover was to improve services for customers, while aiming for efficient, defined and optimized processes, always acting according to legislation and heavily investing in the grid (2.5 times more than Electrica Oltenia previously did). An important success factor has been our team of specialists and experts who have kept a close eye on the market’s opportunities and evolution. Ten years after that, CEZ Group in Romania means eight local companies investing in green energy generation, distribution and the supply of electricity and related services, based in nine counties around the country, in which it has already rolled out social projects worth more than EUR 3.9 million. What have the company’s biggest achievements been over these ten years? CEZ was the first to implement the unbundling process on the Romanian electricity market. As a result, in 2007, Electrica Oltenia divided into CEZ Distributie and CEZ Vanzare, each with its own specific activity. Every year, targets were seriously approached and achieved. After ten years of heavy investments, the distribution grid is 29 percent renewed with top technologies mostly produced by Romanian companies and implemented by local contractors. As a result, the electricity distribution service has undergone significant improvements, adjusting to the community’s new development needs. In 2008, CEZ entered the green energy generation field with the acquisition of a wind farm project in the Dobrogea region. In 2012, CEZ com-

pleted the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, a EUR 1.1 billion investment and a technological ﬁrst in Romania, which it had started from scratch. CEZ Wind Farm has a 600 MW installed capacity, approximately 10 percent of Romania’s target of energy production from renewable sources, and comprises 240 wind turbines of 2.5 MW each. The construction site was an impressive achievement for a Romanian and international team of more than 400 specialists which built 240 foundations, 215 km of underground electrical circuit, seven substations and one transformer station plus more than 190 km of access roads. In 2009, CEZ became the sole shareholder of CEZ Distributie and CEZ Vanzare by purchasing the remaining shares from Electrica. This was also the year when the capital process restructuring inside the two companies was concluded with positive results in terms of cost and operational eﬃciency. The highlight of 2010 was another expansion of CEZ’s portfolio in Romania: the purchase of TMK Hydroenergy Power – the hydropower system north of Resita, in Caras Severin. CEZ enlarged its green energy generation assets with a group of four micro hydropower plants and the related hydro amenities with the clear target of complete refurbishment. The refurbishment project meant an additional EUR 30 million investment and a modern hydropower generating system fully preserving the cultural and historical value of the secular components (hydropower plant buildings, the dams, the channel system etc.). Operational achievements were re-

How would you describe the development of the business environment in the company’s ten years of presence on the Romanian market? The Romanian market is nowadays considered one of the most attractive emerging markets in Europe, in terms of potential. For the past ten years, CEZ has constantly increased and developed its portfolio, adding energy generation to its distribution and sales activity, while optimizing its processes and reaching operational excellence. We have therefore accumulated significant experience operating in the Romanian market and obtained vital know-how about the local business environment. The energy business puzzle in Romania can be easily applied to all local economic sectors sharing the same key drivers with specific roles and challenges. In terms of stability, predictability, investment prudence and governance strategy, I would describe the business environment in Romania first of all as emerging and in the process of maturing, growing at the same tempo as the market. It can be considered transparent and EU aligned, following EU directives and business legislation in government strategies and influencing investors to act more prudently in their approach. In short, an open market of opportunities. The international crisis heavily impacted Romania between 2009 and 2011 and the effects were most obvious in cash flows, falling consumption, the value of receivables and remuneration of investments. A series of business constraints derived from the crisis had to be faced wisely by all business players. CEZ managed to surpass the crisis period by means of performance-oriented management,

CEZ Romania Established: 2005 Field of activity: production, distribution and supply of electric energy 2013 turnover: RON 2,371,291,000 CEZ Distributie, CEZ Vanzare, Tomis Team, TMK Hydroenergy Power, MW Invest, Ovidiu Development, CEZ Romania SA 2014 turnover: RON 2,089,579,000 Number of employees: 1,787 adjusting the business strategy to the reality of the business environment, the context of the energy market and the macroeconomic background. However, we are always looking towards constant challenges like more demanding consumers, the free market, competition and tariff liberalization by turning challenges into opportunities for success. Which have been the company’s most important projects in its ten years in Romania? In chronological order, I would mention the unbundling process (20062007), the new large optimization projects for the newly established CEZ Distributie and CEZ Vanzare (20072011) targeting all processes in both companies, the impressive construction site at CEZ Wind Farm (2008-2012), the refurbishment project at the hydropower system in Caras Severin (2011-2013) and last, but very importantly, the loss reduction program at CEZ Distributie (2010-2014). How do you see CEZ Romania in ten years from now from the development point of view? What about the local economy? I am very conﬁdent in Romania’s economic potential and progress. I believe the market will gain stability and predictability and will become a credible environment for investors. That combined with the country’s natural resources, know-how and openness towards foreign investors will turn Romania into a very attractive market for all business sectors. In the next decade, I see CEZ as one of the key players in the Romanian energy market and a consolidated integrated business in local development plans. anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

tOP 100 23

RANK

top 100 companies founded in 2005 ranked by 2013 turnover COMPANy

COUNty/City

2013 tURNOvER (RON)

FiELd OF ACtivity

CONtACt

2,300,730,369

Mainly retail of food, beverages and tobacco products

13 Barbu Stefanescu Delavrancea Street, ground floor, 1st District, phone: 021 317 79 19, fax: 021 317 85 00 8 Salzburg Street, phone 0369 433 002, 0369402005, fax: 0369 433 029

78-80 Buzesti Street, 7th floor, 1st District, phone 021 200 96 16, fax: 021 200 96 31

Auchan Romania

Bucharest

Continental Automotive Systems

Sibiu (Sibiu)

2,228,473,646

Manufacturing of electric and electronic equipment for motor vehicles and their engines

Fondul Proprietatea SA bucharest

Bucharest

1,311,202,217

Mutual funds and other similar financial entities

Procter&Gamble distribution SRL

Bucharest

1,217,167,184

Wholesale trade ofother household goods

Makita EU SRL

Ilfov (Branesti)

488,400,427

Manufacturing of electric mobile machine tools

164 I.C. Bratianu Street, phone 021 200 01 21

Arges (Brasov)

406,024,627

Manufacturing of electric and electronic equipment for motor vehicles and their engines

19 Serelor Street, phone: 0722 667 751

Leoni Wiring Systems 6 Pitesti SRL

9-9A Dimitrie Pompei Avenue, Building 2a, 2nd District, phone 021 301 11 10

Energy Financing team Romania SRL

Bucharest

403,442,746

Retail of electric energy

24 Mircea Voda Avenue, 2nd floor, Room 205, 3rd District, phone 021 302 36 23, 021 302 36 25

Strabag AG Austria Sucursala bucuresti Romania

Bucharest

400,689,829

Construction of residential and non-residential buildings

90 13 Septembrie Avenue, 3rd floor, Room 3 01, 5th District, phone: 021 403 43 57, fax: 021 403 43 50

Societatea Comerciala Filiala de intretinere si Servicii Energetice Electrica Serv SA

Bucharest

388,867,047

Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications

ikea Romania

Bucharest

360,598,913

Retail of furniture, lighting and household goods in specialized stores

42A Bucharest-Ploiesti Road, 1st floor Office Space, 1st District, phone: 021 308 81 00, fax: 021 308 81 25

Global E-business Operations Centre SRL

Bucharest

336,675,269

Management and business consultancy services

6 Dimitrie Pompei Street, Building D, ground floor, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, 2nd District, phone: 021 317 79 19

Genpact Romania

Bucharest

315,374,493

Other support activities for companies

9-9A Dimitrie Pompei Avenue, P floor, Iride Business Park, 19th Building, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, 2nd District phone: 0728 887 596

Rodbun Grup SRL

Bucharest

305,812,251

Wholesale trade of cereals, seeds, fodder and unprocessed tobacco

benrom SRL

Sibiu (Sibiu)

303,535,335

Manufacturing of other clothing items (exclusively underwear)

bCR Asigurari de viata vienna insurance Group SA

Bucharest

293,176,043

Life insurance activities

Source: ONRC

1A Stefan cel Mare Avenue, 1st District phone: 021 306 50 02, fax: 021 306 50 04

10 Topolovat Street, Td21 Building, 9th floor, 57 apt, 6th District, phone: 0757 115 502 1-3 Metalurgistilor Street, phone: 0269 501 600, 0728 137 673 21 Rabat Street, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, 1st District, phone:021 206 90 40, 0745 854 436, fax: 021 230 63 49

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

RANK

24 tOP 100 COMPANy

COUNty/City

2013 tURNOvER (RON)

FiELd OF ACtivity

CONtACt

Kromberg & Schubert Romania ME SRL

Sibiu (Medias)

259,556,521

Manufacturing of electric and electronic equipment for motor vehicles and their engines

Pehart tec SA

Alba (Pitesti)

243,237,584

Manufacturing of paper and cartons

1 1Mai Street, phone: 0258 743 624

Mahle Componente de Motor SRL

Timis (Timisoara)

235,637,821

Manufacturing of other automotive components

Aradului Road, National Road 69 KM 6+625 STG, phone: 0725 560 332

Faist Mekatronic SRL

Bihor (Oradea)

233,689,145

Manufacturing of metal structures and related components

32 / I Borsului Road, phone: 0359 803 600, fax: 0359 803 602

Regiotrans SRL

Brasov (Brasov)

223,990,487

Inter-city railway transportation for passengers

2 Oltului Street, 2nd Office, phone: 0268 310 697, 0730 190 433

Ezpada SRL

Bucharest

221,584,133

Retail of electric energy

24 Sevastopol Street, ground floor, Room P02, 1st District, phone: 0311 805 659, 021 312 58 88

total Romania

Brasov (Cristian)

215,612,374

Manufacturing of products obtained through crude oil processing

2 Stejarilor Street, phone: 0268 401 720, 0268 401 711, fax: 0268 401 726 2C George Constantinescu Street, 4th floor, Building Multigalaxy II, 2nd District, phone: 021 300 88 92, 0723 259 564

186 Sibiului Road, phone: 0269 807 712, 0269 807 724

Gefco Romania

Bucharest

210,378,456

Other activities connected with transportation

duvenbeck Logistik SRL

Brasov (Cristian)

208,947,611

Road transport of commodities

1 Duvenbeck Alley, phone: 0729 500 040, 0368 405 051

ERb Leasing iFN SA

Bucharest

207,753,335

Financial leasing

6A Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, 5th floor, Room 5 04, 2nd District, phone: 021 308 61 21

bitdefender SRL

Bucharest

196,513,222

Other software editing activities

24 Delea Veche Street, 7th floor, Office Building A, 2nd District, phone: 021 206 34 70, 0723 144 943

vFS iNt Romania iFN SA

Bucharest

179,259,609

Financial leasing

646-648 Iuliu Maniu Avenue, 1st floor, Building C, 6th District

digital Cable Systems SA

Bucharest

167,553,057

Telecommunication activities through cable networks

10A Dimitrie Pompei, 4th floor, Building Conect 1, 2nd District, phone: 021 529 60 01, 021 529 60 02, fax: 021 589 34 52

Stabilus Romania

Brasov (Sanpetru)

157,314,086

Manufacturing of pumps and compressors

Picara trading SRL

Bucharest

152,806,050

Wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products

9 Srg. Gheorghe Letea Street, Building C74, 2nd floor, 16th apt, 6th District, 021 322 85 00, 021 320 22 26

Simea Sibiu SRL

Sibiu (Sibiu)

151,350,590

Manufacturing of electronic modules

4 Florian Rieger Street, phone: 0269 20 68 06

142,333,431

Business and management consultancy services

2B Ion Ionescu De La Brad Street, 1st floor, 1st District, 0720 555 897

* CEZ Romania SA

Bucharest

National Road 11, KM5+862,85, phone: 0729 50 07 98, 0368 308 900

* This is the turnover reported only by CEZ Romania SA, one of the companies part of the CEZ Group in Romania; Source: ONRC

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COMPANy

tOP 100 25 2013 tURNOvER (RON)

FiELd OF ACtivity

Braila (Braila)

141,624,619

Unspecialized wholesale trade of food, beverages and tobacco

Cogeme Set Ro SRL

Arges (Micesti)

136,806,553

Manufacturing of automotive components

76B Calea Campulungului, phone: 0248 549 101, 0248 234 250, fax: 0248 549 100

Nimet SRL

Dambovita (Lazuri)

132,683,374

Manufacturing of metal structures and related components

103 Targului Street, phone: 0727 722 078, 0245 606 010, fax: 0245 606 011

duPont Romania SRL

Bucharest

129,873,104

Unspecialized wholesale trade

42-44 Bucuresti-Ploiesti Road, Building B, 2nd floor (Wing B2), 1st District, phone: 021 314 02 00

MGi Coutier Rom SRL

Timis (Ghiroda)

124,104,138

Manufacturing of automotive components

16 Aviatorilor Road, phone: 0256 309 555, fax: 0256 274 065

integra SRL

Ilfov (Chitila)

121,359,226

Processing and preserving meat

2,2A,2B Cartierului Street, phone: 021 436 49 95

SAP Romania SRL

Bucharest

120,231,463

Other software editing activities

11-15 Tipografilor Street, Building A1, 1st and 2nd floor, 1st District, phone: 0745 294 645, 312 00 40

Artifex SRL

Vrancea (Focsani)

118,434,126

Manufacturing of other clothing items (exclusively underwear)

12 Bucuresti Avenue, phone: 0237 213 200, 0337 401 241

Assa Abloy Entrance Systems Production Romania SRL

Hunedoara (Hunedoara)

104,587,540

Manufacturing of metal structures and related components

363 Pestisu Mare, phone: 0354 808 380, 0354 808 383

borealis L.A.t Romania

Bucharest

101,676,111

Other support services for companies

8A Maria Rosetti, 3rd floor, 2nd District, phone: 0744 567 218, 021 212 32 68

Simpe SRL

Alba (Sebes)

101,085,240

8 Alunului Street, C16, phone: 0358 401 545, 021 305 57 57, fax: 0358 401 548

Hanna instruments SRL

Salaj (Nusfalau)

98,069,436

Manufacturing of other carpentry components for constructions Manufacturing of tools and devices for measurement, control, navigation and inspection

bihore SRL

Bihor (Oradea)

95,721,036

Manufacturing of shoes

2 Paleului Street, phone: 0722 367 246

Efes Export SA

Arges (Maracineni)

95,279,060

Processing and preserving of fruits and vegetables

Electronic Arts Romania SRL

Bucharest

90,123,036

Editing computer games

4F Vasile Milea Avenue, Afi Park 2 Building, 6th District, phone: 0317 810 100

Reropam SRL

Bihor (Santion)

89,854,855

Manufacturing of shoes

phone: 0259 316 096, 0259 316 154

Bucharest

89,031,493

Real estate development (and promotion)

4-6 Stelutei Street, 1st floor, Room 1, 1st District, phone: 021 667 79 61, 021 667 24 50

33 Ximena distributie SRL

49 balkan Petroleum SA

Source: ONRC

COUNty/City

CONtACt

26A Miron Costin Street, Building C1, phone: 0239 620 242

Hanna Street, phone: 0260 607 700, fax: 0260 670 353

579A Cimpulung Avenue, phone: 0248 610 600, 0748 155 067

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

RANK

26 TOP 100 COMPANY

E.ON Business Services Iasi SRL

Iasi (Iasi)

88,586,821

Management activities of computing systems

Octagon Contracting & Engineering SA

Bucharest

87,362,861

Construction of residential and nonresidentialbuildings

20P Smaranda Braescu Street, 1st floor, 1st District, phone: 021 232 39 20

Activities of collecting agencies and credit reporting offices Wholesale trade of forge equipment for sanitary and heating installations

48 Iancu de Hunedoara Avenue, 9th floor, Lease Office, 1st District, phone: 0728 966 939, 0372 297 183

52 ING Lease Romania SA

Brodrene Dahl SRL

Infineon Technologies 54 Romania & Co. SCS

COUNTY/CITY

2013 TURNOVER (RON)

FIELD OF ACTIVITY

Bucharest

83,364,389

Tulcea (Tulcea)

82,118,729

Bucharest

CONTACT 38 Petru Movila Saint Street, 3rd floor, Room 312, phone: 0232 205 763, 0232 205 702

22 Dumitru Ivanov Engineer Street, phone: 0240 536 743, fax: 0240 536 744

82,089,031

Editing of other software products

6 Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, Buildings B+C, Ground floor, 3rd and 4th floors and Building E, 5th floor, 2nd District

81,729,720

Manufacturing of metal structures and related components

Constanta Harbor, Mol I South, phone: 0372 753 330; 0372 753 331; fax: 0372 737 222 Aristide Demetriade 1 Street, phone: 0722 836 067

Grup Servicii Petroliere Shipyard SRL

Constanta (Constanta)

Iulius Mall Timisoara

Timis (Timisoara)

81,236,834

Leasing and subleasing of real estate, owned or leased properties

All Cargo Expres SRL

Timis (Chisoda)

80,182,435

Other activities connected to transportation

59 National Road KM 8 + 550 M, Left, phone: 0731 660 371

Polipol Mobila SRL

Satu Mare (Foieni)

80,162,448

Manufacturing of furniture

631 Foieni village phone: 0261 807 600, fax: 0261 807 609

Galaxy Distribution SRL

Bucharest

80,142,127

Wholesale trade of tobacco products

2 Regiei Avenue, Building M, 6th District, phone: 021 317 44 00, 0744 305 150, fax: 021 317 44 01

China Shipping Romania Agency Co. Ltd SRL

Bucharest

78,627,111

Other activities connected to transportation

86 Splaiul Unirii Street, 1st and 2nd floors, 4th District, phone: 0720 720 535, 0311 006 892

Gold Plast Production SRL

Arges (Topoloveni)

77,954,199

Manufacturing of other plastics

1 Garii Street, phone: 0248 666 116

Textile Medicale SRL

Arad (Arad)

77,300,861

Manufacturing of medical and dental devices, equipment and tools

1 III Street, West Industrial Area, phone: 0257 272 100

Lavira Transport SRL

Bucharest

76,096,046

Rohrer Servicii Industriale SRL

Bucharest

75,063,296

Collecting and cleaning used water

1 Tablitei Street, Ground floor, 1st and 2nd floors, 1st District, phone: 021 410 09 46, fax: 021 410 09 46

H&E Reinert SRL

Brasov (Feldioara)

73,849,759

Manufacturing of meat products

National Road 13 KM 11, phone: 0368 101 077, 0268 47 75 94, fax: 0368 101 078

Ionescom Colect SRL

Constanta (Constanta)

69,005,079

Wholesale trade of waste

50 George Enescu Street, 1st floor, room 2, phone: 0722 466 079, 0745 754 590, 0726 645 778

Source: ONRC

Retail of pharmaceuti13 Laceni Alley, Building PM84, Apt 38, cals in specialized 3rd District, phone: 0745 120 387 stores

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www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

COMPANY

TOP 100 27

COUNTY/CITY

2013 TURNOVER (RON)

FIELD OF ACTIVITY

CONTACT

EL&Cab Bizz SRL

Bucharest

68,194,967

Wholesale trade of electronic and telecommunication components and equipment

Toyo Motor Leasing IFN SA

Bucharest

66,957,217

Financial leasing

Ser Transnav SRL

Constanta (Constanta)

66,881,477

Sonoma SRL

Bacau (Bacau)

66,173,754

Orbit Polymers SRL

Bucharest

65,457,426

Wholesale trade of chemical products

55C Pipera Road, room 5, 2nd District, phone: 021 230 87 70, fax: 021 230 87 60

Nordic Petfood Distribution SRL

Bucharest

64,326,243

Specialized wholesale trade of food, including fish, shellfish and cockles

240 A Vitan Road, 3rd District, phone: 0722 392 248, 021 346 53 40

Evolution Prest Systems SRL

Bucharest

64,258,904

Wholesale trade of computers and software

20 1 Decembrie 1918 Avenue, Building 2, 7th floor, apt 31, 3rd District, phone: 0723 304 605, 0746 079 704

Euro Gepeto SA

Constanta (Lumina)

63,581,750

Wholesale trade of meat and meat products

148 Tulcei Road, Office No.1, phone: 0241 585 152, 0731 500 979, fax: 0241 629 100

Metalicplas Distribution SRL

Cluj (Dej)

63,525,243

Wholesale trade of metals and metallic minerals

113 1 Mai Street, phone: 0747 028 149, 0264 211 967

New Kopel Romania SRL

Ilfov (Otopeni)

62,920,460

Rent and car leasing

201-203 Calea Bucurestilor Road, 1 st floor, phone: 0723 252 599, fax: 021 317 85 00

City Gas SRL

Galati (Galati)

62,477,650

Wholesale trade of solid, liquid and gas fuels and derived products

Free Zone Sector, Lot 03,04,05, P1, P3, phone: 0236 314 234, 0747 126 015, fax: 0236 448 551

Arges (Pitesti)

61,364,730

Construction of residential and nonresidential buildings

92 Craiovei Street, Building V1, D1 floor, phone: 0752 239 949, 0248 250 135

Manufacturing of fabrics

351 Bucuresti Road, Building A, phone: 0721 228 676, 0246 210 017, fax: 0246 403 004

78 Kranz Eurocenter SRL

UCO Tesatura SRL

Giurgiu (Giurgiu)

60,418,144

Dell International Services SRL

Bucharest

60,163,480

Cosmos Mobile SRL

Bucharest

59,143,677

Rotiemme Impex SRL

Bihor (Oradea)

58,714,708

Schlemmer Romania SRL

Satu Mare (Vetis)

Source: ONRC

57,995,576

Wholesale trade of cereals, seeds, fodder and unprocessed tobacco Manufacturing of other clothing items (exclusively underwear)

8 Barbu Lautaru Street, Building 23, 9th floor, apt 49, 1st District, phone: 0730 786 813, 0735 852 681 283 Splaiul Unirii Street, 3rd District, phone: 0722 295 743, 0728 859 050 1 Maior Sofran Street, Building C1, ground floor, apt.3, phone: 0241 485 813, 0241 485 574 283 Republicii Road, phone: 0234 582 400

Business and manage- 10A Dimitrie Pompeiu Avenue, Building ment consultancy C3, 2,4,5 and 6 floors, 2nd District, services phone: 021 314 02 00 Retail of telecommunication equipment in specialized stores Wholesale trade of wood and construction materials and sanitary equipment Manufacturing of plastic panels, sheets, tubes and profiles

32A Alexandru Ioan Cuza Avenue, 4th floor, Offices 1-4, 1st District, phone: 021 313 99 92, 0731 494 562 2 Garoafei Street, phone: 0740 575 606

8A Careiului Street, phone: 0261 717 443, 0744 701 374

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

RANK

28 TOP 100 COMPANY

COUNTY/CITY

2013 TURNOVER (RON)

FIELD OF ACTIVITY

CONTACT

United Grain Consult SRL

Bucharest

55,929,827

Brokerage in retail of agricultural raw materials, cattle, fabric raw materials and semi-products

Prolisok SRL

Suceava (Negostina)

55,291,327

Brokerage in retail of various products

375 Balcauti Village, phone: 0743 200 025

54,944,025

Wholesale trade of solid, liquid and gas fuels and derived products

38-40 Prelungirea Ghencea Street, 1st floor, Room 4, 6th District, phone: 0734 00 11 40, 0722 22 34 54, fax: 021 311 90 02

54,233,103

Manufacturing of meat products (including chicken meat)

Postal Code 717 313, phone: 0231 534 222, fax: 0231 534 222

54,216,393

Asset management

246D Calea Floreasca Street, 2nd floor, Room 2, 1st District, phone: 021 306 17 11, fax: 021 312 05 33

86 Inter-Gas Trading SRL

Bucharest

Dadycom SRL

Botosani (Rosiori)

S.A. I. Raiffeisen Asset Management SA

Bucharest

Martifer Constructii SRL

Manufacturing of metal structures and related components Wholesale trade of computers and software

20-22 Dr. Ottoi Calin Street, Building C2, 2nd District, phone: 0722 543 689

12 Stelea Spataru Street, ground floor, 3rd District, phone: 0314 056 862, 0728 118 239, fax: 021 310 68 64

Bucharest

53,967,593

90 Royal Computers SRL

Bucharest

52,978,302

91 Tecsa Meccanismi SRL

Cluj (Apahida)

52,079,062

General mechanic operations

296 Libertatii Street, phone: 0264 417 885, 0730 707 508

19A Principala Street, phone: 0724 316 492, 0749 127 720

32 General Ioan Culcer Street, 6th District, phone: 021 410 21 00

Vikingprofil SRL

Prahova (Filipestii de Padure)

50,557,348

Manufacturing of metal products obtained through plastic bending, powders and metallurgical engineering

Cramele Recas Group SRL

Timis (Recas)

50,432,707

Wholesale trade of alcohol drinks

Complex Vinificatie CP 1, phone: 0256 330 296, fax: 0256 330 241

Cassidian Romania SRL

Bucharest

50,299,206

Management and business consultancy services

3 George Constantinescu Street, 6th floor, 2nd District, phone: 021 312 20 56, 0727 773 714, fax: 021 312 20 55

Thimm Packaging SRL

Sibiu (Sura Mica)

50,010,322

Manufacturing of paper and corrugated board, paper and carton packaging

Parcuri Industriale Street, P12, phone: 0269 541 210, fax: 0269 541 240

Omco Romania SRL

Iasi (Iasi)

49,186,954

Manufacturing of equipment for general use

43A Chisinaului Road, phone: 0720 550 050

Tomadi SRL

Timis (Timisoara)

48,545,368

Manufacturing of meat products (including chicken meat) Collecting of nondangerous waste

Uni-Recycling SRL

Bucharest

47,089,875

Klevek Factory SRL

Ialomita (Fetesti)

47,027,097

100

Vitrarom SRL

Brasov (Lunca Calnicului)

46,979,710

Source: ONRC

Processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables Manufacturing of other carpentry components for constructions

8-10 Circumvalatiunii Road, Room 1, phone: 0722 204 126 2B Ion Ionescu de la Brad, 3rd floor, Gabrielle Center Building, 1st District, phone: 0721 358 031, 0728 887 773 505 Calarasi Street, phone: 0723 209 317, 0243 361 240, fax: 0243 361 199 1 IC Frimu Street, Building 1, phone: 0744 334 719, 0722 523 276, fax: 0268 515 282

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

30 inteRvieW

Storience: making its name on the London branding market In July 2012, Stefan and adriana Liute left Grapefruit and started their own branding agency – Storience. The name (a portmanteau of story and experience) sums up what the duo sees as the main ingredients in the construction and communication of a brand. In two years of activity, the company has signed up such brands as Activate, Clothier, Avenor Collage, Shakespeare School, Unica pharmacy, Honeywood, Alevia, Bookster, Nedcon and McCann PR. It has also won gold at the A’Design Award 2014 and bronze at the Transform Awards 2013. At the beginning of the year the firm launched a new venture, opening an office in London and trying to gain more international clients.

∫ Romanita opRea How did the opportunity to work for a UK client come about (who found whom)? How did you edge out the competition? Adriana Liute (AL): Our client in the UK approached us via a referral. In fact, all our foreign clients have come to us through referrals, and only recently have we started also to get prospects who say they “stumbled upon our website”. I think that having an oﬃce in London helps with the perception that we are a suitable agency for a Western company. Our UK client, Activate Event Management, told us we competed for

this rebranding project with two other UK-based agencies, and that our portfolio is what convinced them. How was this ﬁrst experience for you? Stefan Liute (SL): Rebranding Activate has been a great experience. Thanks to the client, who was very focused and responsive, this was probably one of the smoothest projects we’ve been involved in so far. The success of the project was the main reason we opened an oﬃce in London. How did you choose your space and the team? prior to this step, did you have other UK-based clients? AL: We chose the Bethnal Green area

for its proximity to the creative hubs of Shoreditch and Hackney, and to the City of London. We (Stefan and Adriana Liute) are now based in London, traveling frequently between there and Bucharest. Our team in London also includes Ioana Jago, who successfully coordinated the Activate rebranding project. Activate was our only client in the UK when we opened the oﬃce. What can you tell us about your second international project – the University of Geneva? SL: For the University of Geneva we are currently developing a digital presence for a digital humanities project. That means a modern,

responsive website that showcases digital versions of unique ancient manuscripts. This project will launch in a few days. What persuaded you that moving to London was the right path for you? SL: London is the world’s largest and most competitive market for branding services. So, for someone truly passionate about this ﬁeld, London is a magnet. Working in this market can only improve the work we do for all our clients worldwide. We know that making it here is neither guaranteed nor easy, but we never really had a doubt that we wanted to do this.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

How has the local competition received you? How are you seen by the branding agencies in the UK? AL: It is too early to tell how our competitors here regard us. We are not yet well known locally. However, our storytelling skills (Zamburi-style) are very noticeable and appreciated in London, even by other branding agencies. Although gift cards are very diverse and popular in Britain, our creative concept (ultra-short stories for

inteRvieW 31 grown-ups inside gift cards) is fresh and unique. What is your business target for the ﬁrst year in London (number of clients, turnover, etc.)? AL: We want to dedicate 2015 to exploration and networking, so our objective is not about turnover or number of clients. Right now we are trying to plant the right seeds for a very productive 2016.

When you started your company and went it alone, did you foresee this trajectory? SL: The gates didn’t open themselves for us, we pushed them. We admit that opening a Storience oﬃce in London did not cross our mind when we started Storience in Bucharest. But when the idea came up, we decided to go for it. The truth is, we are an internationally awarded agency so, since we already operate at international standards, why not open up for the in-

ternational market? What will happen with the local Storience ofﬁce? Who will be in charge for Romanian clients? AL: We continue to be involved and to oversee the projects in Romania, with the support of our team there. We do that on a day-to-day basis, and we also travel there whenever needed. editorial@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

32 BR Awards

BR Awards the nominees From greening their business to training the next generation of entrepreneurs, from funding SMEs to bringing an ailing company back from the brink, some players on the local market defied the tough trading conditions to shine in 2014. This year’s Business Review Awards celebrate these high achievers. Who are they, and what did they do? ∫ ANDA SEBESI

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES JUDGING CRITERIA Incorporation of sustainable business practices: environmentally friendly products or services; proven social impact of the business (community impact); developing long-term programs or projects for the local communities (long-term commitment to the local community); program’s practices meet a real need of the community; implementation of an innovative system in the production and distribution process that reduces the use of water, waste or carbon footprint; adoption of a solution for the eﬃcient energy management.

Unilever South Central Europe for Zero Waste to Landfill Unilever Program The company identified the green solution of converting obsolete products that cannot be sold (as they are expired or deteriorated) into biomass. The biomass is converted into biogas and then into green energy. Last year the company announced the successful implementation of the Zero Waste to Landfill program from its factories in Ploiesti. The program is part of the company’s strategy that puts sustainability at the core of its business and incorporates it in its brands value proposition.

Skanska Property Romania for Green Court Bucharest The three-building development includes Building A, which was completed in autumn 2014, and Building B and Building C, which are scheduled for completion in 2015 and 2016. Green Court Bucharest’s Building A and Building B are pre-certified to LEED Gold certification (Core & Shell). LEED is a voluntary US Green Building Council certification process intended to encourage the construction of green buildings. Some 33 percent financial savings due to energy efficiency, 40 percent less energy use than the Romanian energy code, 95 percent construction waste diverted from landfill, 50 percent less potable water use than a conventional Romanian office building, good safety practice during construction and

healthy indoor environments are some of the project’s sustainability highlights.

Raiffeisen Bank for Romanian Clean Business Coalition The project is a result of a strong partnership between a multinational company and civil society (Romanian Business Leaders). Expected outcomes are: effective implementation of the non-financial new reporting framework at national level, increasing transparency within the business community, increasing the number of companies reporting non-financial issues; extended application of the provisions of non-financial reporting to state-owned companies, public-private partnerships and the consequent increasing of their transparency and integrity by the means of the EU new regulation; ensuring an optimum environment for the transfer of good practices from the private/business sector to national investments and state-owned companies.

Brain Institute for its non-proﬁt endeavour Brain Institute is a neurosurgery center inside the Monza Hospital which functions as a not for proﬁt organization. It was set up as a surgery center but it is now developing into a neuroscience center that will be capable of treating all neurological affections. Its target is to treat 1,000 patients a year from 2017. Out of these, 20-25 percent should be social cases. In 2014 the Brain institute performed 450 interventions out of which 50 were social cases – free or based on consumables only. About EUR 60,000 was spent on development and EUR 30,000 went into the foundation.

Danone for the A Chance for All project The project addresses the reduced capacity of Romanian small farmers to meet EU quality standards to produce milk and the need to build sustainable economic development models for the small and disadvantaged communities they are part of. It started in 2012 and is based on a partnership between Danone Romania, the association Heifer Romania and the international investment fund Danone Ecosystem. It focuses on three disadvantaged communities for a period of three years and consists of giving cows to families who lack the means to invest in purchasing a purebred animal under the condition that the ﬁrst born cow is donated to an-

other member of the community. Beneﬁciaries also receive milking equipment and training. The pilot project was implemented in three communities for three years, and over EUR 2 million was invested.

Schneider Electric for Solar Decathlon&Energy University Schneider Electric Romania has supported the Romanian student team that participated in Solar Decathlon Europe in 2014, an international competition that challenges students to build sustainable houer distribution and automation equipment and solutions, an electric vehicle charging station), as well as technical support and training from the company’s experts. Schneider Electric has also supported the members of the team by offering them the chance to become professional energy managers, after graduating for free from a special program on the company’s Energy University platform.

ONLINE STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

personal finance manager (PFM), available for PC and mobile devices (iOS and Android apps) that provides financial assistance through an automated 360 degree overview of the financial status to the customers by categorizing more than 90 percent of the transactions. It generates a global perspective of the budget with the possibility of quickly checking all the personal incomes and spending split per transaction category. With the BCR Financial Assistant customers can have an overview how their monthly spending is divided by category or how they have spent their money or set spending targets. All this in a friendly way, with a rich set of userfriendly charts.

Lidl for WineTunes - vinuri care suna bine WineTunes is an online application that enables consumers to pair their personal music with a complementary wine. The user drags and drops a song or a song link on the app page where it will be analyzed and paired with the perfect bottle of wine for it. The application scans the music (mp3 ﬁle, YouTube link or simply by typing in the name) and pairs it with the correct wine – a high alcohol wine for a metal lover, a high-end wine for classical music or rose for R&B. The company intended to raise awareness for its wine range through this project. The awareness campaign has had over 1.5 million contacts since its launch.

Carrefour for www.Carrefour-Online.ro

JUDGING CRITERIA The response generated by the project in terms of revenue, public awareness; investment in the online strategy, platform; innovative character of the online project in reference to the local market and the respective industry; potential for growth in the future in order to become a target for investors, venture capitalists or international buyers; retail markets involved (local vs. international ones) – whether the company is reaching/creating a new market through its online presence; asses marketing online, not just selling online.

BCR for BCR Financial Assistant BCR Financial Assistant is an innovative

Carrefour-Online.ro is the ﬁrst online hypermarket with more than 20,000 products available at the same process as in the bricks–and-mortar Carrefour hypermarkets. The assortment developed from 7,000 products in 2013 to more than 22,000 in 2014. The website has been improved with new features like a revolutionary shopping list, fast and complex search tool, editable and reusable shopping carts, and social media login. In terms of results in 2014 the business grew by 500 percent year on year.

BRD Asigurari for My MedCare Smartphone Application – Your personal health assistant! The application has been developed by BRD Asigurari de Viata, in partnership with a dynamic Romanian company, as an innovative additional service to its health insurance offer dedicated serv-

ices to BRD company customers. It is a free application giving the employees of BRD customers easy and permanent access to numerous added value health services. It provides direct access to a call center for appointments, account statements such as claims and reimbursements, including direct contact to doctors in case of need. The application allows the customer to easily ﬁnd the immediate geo-location of the closest medical center in case of need. Also available are alerts for medication and medical appointments. The competitive advantage is that BRD Asigurari de Viata is the only insurer in Romania to provide such tool.

Mega Image for “Supermarket la tine acasa” “Supermarket la tine acasa” (www.emag.ro/supermarket) is the online shopping platform launched by Mega Image in collaboration with eMAG. The approach was to build a partnership with the e-commerce leader in Romania, in order to combine forces and allow each company to focus on their key strengths: eMAG on ecommerce and infrastructure (IT & logistics) and Mega Image on products and retail aspects. Three key points of differentiation that set the eMAG-Mega Image Supermarket apart from the competition are: home delivery everywhere in Romania; same day delivery in selected areas; pick-up points. In 2014, over 10,000 orders were placed on www.emag.ro/supermarket, with about 65 percent of them coming from outside of Bucharest.

INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY

hancements to get to market faster across any customer touch point, to move to recurring revenue models easily, and to sell more, globally. The most signiﬁcant addition was the Revenue Recovery Tools (RRT), which improve conversion and retention for recurring revenues lost due to passive churn and limitations of working with just a limited set of processors. RRT brings together extended credit account updaters, retry logic, gateway failure/intelligent payment routing, as well as bundled advanced third-party tools leveraging direct bank integrations and big data analysis. Typical recovery has averaged 20 percent of lost orders with early adopters recovering over 40 percent of churned revenues.

to the European norms TSI. It was the second train in Europe certiﬁed according to ERA Brussells. The investment was over EUR 5 million.

iRewind for iRewind OnAirCamera

Banca Transilvania for First Year Free Account

iRewind OnAirCamera automatically captures, edits and delivers personalized video memories. It simpliﬁes the process of capturing, editing and delivering video. The company says it aims to standardize the technology in all major sports, starting with timed sport markets (marathon and cycling races) and slowly expanding into other market such as golf, skiing and tourism. The initial investment is estimated at around EUR 200,000 to EUR 300,000.

For up to 12 months following their establishment, companies which become Banca Transilvania’s customers have the following beneﬁts: zero charges for payments via BT24 and cheque/promissory note, no charges for incoming payments, zero costs for opening and monthly management of accounts and free subscription to BT24 Internet Banking. The objective in launching this product was to attract 20 percent of the companies newly established in 2014. The goal was achieved successfully as the lender attracted 21 percent of them.

Ubervu for the uberVU Social Media Analytics software solution The uberVU Social Analytics dashboard is consistently rated as one of the top five products of its kind in the world. Its biggest differentiator is that it targets non-analysts inside large enterprises. The uberVU competitors provide more powerful social analytics tools that are targeted at data scientists and business analysts and they are complex to use and very slow. The benefits to the business environment relate to the fact that uberVU is one of the first Romanian technology companies to address a new, global market category that it also helped shape. It is a great example that Romanian entrepreneurs can go after new categories, not just try to compete in existing ones.

Softronics for building the ﬁrst electric train in Romania – Hyperion JUDGING CRITERIA Innovation and research-driven orientation of the strategy implemented; investment made, amount and against other markets where the company is present; HR effort of the company; added value brought to the business environment and/or community.

Avangate for the Avangate Digital Commerce Solution Released in the fall of 2014, the company’s Digital Commerce Solution is designed for the new services economy and provides software and online services companies with over 200 new en-

Hyperion is the first electric low-floor train ever built in Romania, aiming to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Comfort and safety are key aspects of the four-wagon train offering openspace compartments, free internet access, diffused lighting systems and comfortable seats. Internal and external monitoring systems ensure passenger safety, providing direct views and recordings to the driver’s cabin.The train was running on maximal parameters on the Craiova - Bucharest - Constanta route, 160 km/h, during the summer and is now running on the Craiova - Bucharest - Brasov route. It was manufactured using the latest technologies and was assimilated according

BEST START-UP SUPPORTERS To what extent does the project/service support the activity of start-ups. The added value for the entrepreneur; number of start-ups/individuals supported; resources and strategy employed to support start-up activity (infrastructure, consultancy services); ease of access to the solution/service/product for start-ups.

Connect Hub for Open Connect Open Connect is a networking and pitching event, started in a Starbucks in 2012 and with more than 100 editions so far, more than 400 pitches and over 80 mentoring sessions. The community created around Open Connect has now more than 5,000 members from Romania and abroad. The event was replicated and is currently happening (with a lower frequency) in seven other cities: Sibiu, Brasov, Bacau, Galati, Constanta, Cluj and Iasi. Open Connect intends to generate consistent and relevant feedback, in a sustainable form, to young freelancers, entrepreneurs and self-employed. It supports entrepreneurs, offering exposure to relevant feedback and mentors, networking, early validation (or invalidation) of ideas, community building and soft skills building.

Impact Hub for its solutions designed to support start-ups in Bucharest Impact Hub Bucharest hosts a space with all the tools and trimmings needed to grow and develop innovative ventures for the world. It invites entrepreneurial individuals into a space of meaningful encounters, exchange and inspiration. It helps create scalable business models so that ventures developed at Impact Hub Bucharest become ﬁnancially sustainable and create real impact. The Hub’s community hosts 180-200 members every month, with 500 unique members throughout the year. Going into the third year, 40 percent of its members are in the idea development phase, and 70 percent of them

have accelerated and are now startups and running established operations.

Spherik Accelerator for its intensive program for entrepreneurs Spherik Accelerator is a four-month intensive program that supports aspiring entrepreneurs to bring their start-up to life and generate investment. It provides selected teams with weekly workshops and in-person and remote mentoring from business leaders and entrepreneurs from Romania and tech hubs from around the world. The accelerator model has been brought from Silicon Valley to Romania, while adapting it for local conditions. Spherik Accelerator also acts as an ambassador, bringing interesting people in technology and business from other tech hubs around the world to showcase Cluj and Romania. It has also initiated a "Think Tank" of program leaders from around the community to share their experiences, learning, and challenges as well as share resources.

BEST SME FINANCING PROGRAM JUDGING CRITERIA Amount of financial commitment and lending terms; innovative character of the financial product or service; the impact of the product/service within the target (number of customers). Raiffeisen Bank for Funding Financial Instrument with Risk Sharing element, co-financing and risk sharing rate of 50 percent provided by European Investment Fund (EIF) under the JEREMIE initiative Following the success of the previous JEREMIE Program implemented by Raiffeisen Bank (launched in April 2011) and having in mind the current market demand for programs facilitating access to loans for SMEs, the bank expressed its interest in entering into a new facility agreement under the JEREMIE initiative. The second program launched with the EIF allowed the bank to support the development of its SME customers, granting them credit facilities at affordable prices and lower collateral requirements. The new limit allocated to Raiffeisen Bank SME customers is EUR 40 million, based on the new agreement signed by the bank in December 2013. Through this program, the targeted objective was approximately 700 loans.

Banca Transilvania for its rapid loans platform Banca Transilvania offers loans for working capital and for medium-term investment. Their main characteristics consist of fast approval, accessibility (either no material guarantees or partial material guarantees required) and ﬂexibility (ﬁnancing granted as credit line of medium-term loan). The initial ob-

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34 BR Awards jective was to grant 5,000 loans. The product is different from others on the market due to its speciﬁc characteristics.

BEST MICRO FINANCING PROGRAM

sign special products for types of customers running agricultural activities and who do not own valuable enough assets to get a loan. These products are available for individual customers, who are not part of the groups mentioned above.

Agricover Credit for “Creditul corelat cu Matif” “Creditul corelat cu Matif” is a lending product that allows the correlation of the interest rate with the price of the grain on the Matif Commodities Exchange in Paris (a landmark for trade in grain). Farmers may thus receive a loan that guarantees them lower financing costs in the event that grain price falls below the price estimated by farmers for the harvesting of their crops, coupled with the safety and reliability of a the win-win partnership. Agricover Credit has seen rapid growth, becoming in just a few years one of the major JUDGING CRITERIA Amount of credit offered; diversity of players in farmer financing. The total financial products portfolio; types of value of lending it granted in 2014 amounted to over RON 800 million and businesses financed. covered 1,550 farmers working around 11 percent of the total cultivated agriPatria Credit for EUR 7 million cultural lands in Romania. accessed from EFSE for sus-

taining the financing of micro enterprises, agricultural businesses and farmers in rural areas In December 2014, the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) granted a new loan to Patria Credit wotth of EUR 7 million in the local currency. The main purpose is for Patria to continue to address the financing needs of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) as well as small agricultural businesses and farmers in rural Romania. Another aim is reducing the currency risk for its clients by financing in the local currency (RON), thus is lowering their vulnerability with respect to global macroeconomic fluctuations. From the end of January 2014 to mid December 2014 the lender deployed 320 loans from new EFSE loans for 26 MSEs and 295 agro producers. The amount credited was about EUR 2.1 million while the credit destination was 26 percent for working capital, 26 percent mixed destination and 48 percent investments.

Good.bee Credit IFN for the innovative character of its loans for agricultural entrepreneurs and farmers. The main objective of good.bee Credit is to ensure access to quality ﬁnancial services for small entrepreneurs from rural and small urban areas in help them carry out and extend their activities successfully. It developed two speciﬁc methodologies and products which allow access to loans even for applicants with no collateral: group lending methodology – using the moral guarantee of group members as collateral and peer pressure for on-time collection. This is applicable in areas where there is a large interest in getting a loan for running economic activities but there is a lack of hard collateral; de-

Opportunity Microcredit Romania for supporting small entrepreneurs in Transylvania The main objective of Opportunity Microcredit Romania for 2014 was to support small entrepreneurs and farmers in Transylvania. In terms of client outreach the objective was to serve more than 1,750 active clients (50.4 percent agribusinesses, 48.2 percent nonagribusinesses, 1.4 percent home improvement). In 2014, by providing ﬁnancial services (loans for agri and non-agri businesses for investments, working capital or home improvements) Opportunity Microcredit Romania disbursed 778 loans, worth RON 17.9 million. Over the years, Opportunity Microcredit Romania has grown to eight branches serving clients in 18 counties of Transylvania, having 1,751 active customers at the end of 2014.

BEST TURNAROUND PERFORMANCE JUDGING CRITERIA Strategy employed to achieve the turnaround; time taken to achieve it; ﬁnancial and non-ﬁnancial results of the company before and after.

Cemacon for management innovation in applying turnaround measures The ceramics factory was founded back in 1969 in Salaj county and more than 20 years later it was privatized under the name of Cemacon Zalau. In 2007, it has a portfolio of old regular products and the distribution was ineﬃcient. As a result Cemacon applied for a EUR 30 million credit, with a strategic purpose of investing in a brand new factory in

order to boost production. But with the economic crisis the repayment of credit became a critical issue. As a result, Cemacon became insolvent. 2010 was the turnover moment for Cemacon when the entire management was changed and the headquarters were relocated from Zalau to Cluj Napoca. The production facility was moved to Recea (Salaj county) and became one of the most advanced in South-Eastern Europe. In 2013 Cemacon launched Evoceramic bricks, a revolutionary range of products. The next step was the reconﬁguration of the distribution network. Last year Cemacon was in proﬁt and has big plans for this year. In 2015, the company aims to increase its business by 30 percent and becomes the second biggest brick producer in Romania.

Telekom for the operational integration and rebranding of former Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania into Telekom Romania On September 13 last year, Romtelecom (the second biggest telephony, broadband Internet and TV provider) and Cosmote Romania (the third biggest mobile operator) were rebranded under Telekom, a Deutsche Telekom brand. The rebranding involved a EUR 15 million investment, over 2,000 people and 35,000 working hours. It involved a complex operational integration process, meant to capture the ﬁxed-mobile synergies across the value chain. The operational integration and the rebranding of the two operators are part of business strategy, meant to create the number one integrated operator on the Romanian market, with an eﬃcient and focused operating model.

Posta Romana for posting profit in 2014 after five years of losses Posta Romana posted an operating profit of EUR 22 million (RON 100 million) at the end of 2014 after five years of losses. The company’s overall objective for 2014 was “to return from its distressed stage to normal, in terms of profitability, solvency, liquidity and efficiency”. To achieve this, in the first half of 2014 the management came up with and implemented a financial, operational and commercial sustainability plan (this included among others measures meant to improve cash flow, maintain monthly operational profit, the devising of a medium-term action plan to raise revenues and decrease costs and the optimization of its retail network) while in the second half it focused on stabilizing the company in monthly profit (this included a strict control of the balance between costs and revenues, strict cash flow management and winning several large contracts).

Softelligence for its reinvention process The strategy involved in the reinven-

tion process of Softelligence has followed different dimensions: financial, operational and internal processes, sales & product. Regarding the financial area the focus was on strategic investments such as the takeover of the Kazier software solution, which ensured the company a significant share of the Romanian banking and financial services market. The financial results are correlated with the enlargement of the customer portfolio both on the internal and international markets. The company registered 50 percent turnover growth at the end of 2014, a revival of the brand and a repositioning of the company on the market. Moreover, the sustained applied strategy and growth has brought Softelligence a place in Deloitte’s top 50 and top 500 technology companies in Europe and EMEA and a distinguished nomination in Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the year” title.

Apulum Alba Iulia for reorganizing the production line and increasing product quality and production capacity 2010 was the first year with profit after six years of losses for Apulum Alba Iulia. From 2010-2014 its turnover increased by 100 percent, due to the new customers that appreciated positive changes in quality, capacity of innovation and production capacity. The internal market is supplied through a network of local distributors covering the entire territory. The company pays great attention to finding new customers from different foreign markets.

Cris-Tim for its turnaround strategy in 2014 Cris-Tim posted an increase in turnover of up to 15 percent last year on 2013. Plus, last year, the company invested over EUR 8 million in upgrading production technology and food safety systems in parallel with increasing eﬃciency. In 2014 it also developed a range of products without additives and preservatives (with a shelf life of approximately 30-40 days). It also extended certain brands and categories to better cover the Cris-Tim product demand in segments with high growth potential, namely in the range of sliced and raw-dried products.

BEST EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE JUDGING CRITERIA Training programs and retaining HR policies; turnover patterns in the company; HR policies meant to maintain/increase the competitiveness and workforce productivity; net personnel increase vs. the net of the industry (percentage also) and the industry growth and its importance for the Romanian economy.

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Bosch for building up more than 600 associates in a greenﬁeld investment of EUR 77 million In January 2014, the number of associates of Bosch Group in Romania totaled 1,700. At the time when the project started, the company had 152 associates and to achieve the proposed target, it made 698 new hires, representing a 560 percent increase. In Romania, the Bosch Group had total sales of EUR 212 million, representing an 18 percent surge on the previous year. Employees are rewarded following a plan for the implementation of individual performance-related beneﬁts. They also have the opportunity to climb the ladder in the company’s structure based on excellence assessment.

BR Awards 35 employees, especially those with disabilities, in the hospitality market by adapting the internship programs to business needs. The internship trainees who took part in the Radisson Blu training programs gained experience in ﬁelds like front oﬃce and operational. The future internship trainees were accepted in the recruitment program like any other employees, by going through two interviews. In 2014, Radisson had 82 internships trainees.

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Pirelli for reducing its employee turnover At present, the company has 2,400 employees in Romania. Pirelli also managed to reduce its employee turnover by an average of 2.7 percent during the period 2012-2014. The Pirelli investment in Romania is a greenﬁeld project and the reason behind the recruitment campaign was the increase of investments in the Slatina Tire Factory. The new investment plan launched in 2012 will create more than 500 new additional jobs by 2017. In order to contribute to the development of workforce skills, Pirelli is helping local universities to develop programs designed to meet the skills needs of the automotive sector. In then social area, the company set up a range of projects for the local community in the Oltenia region, in order to contribute to regional development.

Stefanini for increasing its local team From 840 employees, IT company Stefanini ended 2014 with more than 1,100, marking 30 percent growth in the team on a yearly comparative basis. This strategy is part of the goal to give a boost to the local team making it one of the biggest Stefanini delivery centers worldwide. Overall, last year the company viewed more than 10,000 resumes. The company also decreased its employee turnover from over 40 percent in 2011 to around 20 percent in 2014, and is running an employee retention program which includes investment in their development (training, mentorship, certiﬁcations), motivation, employee recognition programs, client-funded programs and various beneﬁts.

Radisson Blu Hotel for its internship program for students with special needs and hearing and speech impediments The Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharest has run this program for four years already for children in need who want to complete their school studies. One of the main objectives of the program is to increase the hiring potential of young

added value generated by the main business. As a business principle, the Brain Institute has put medical leadership in front of any strategy. The institute has performed 450 interventions in 2014 out of which 50 were social cases.

Teodor Blidarus, managing partner strategy & business development at Softelligence Teodor Blidarus co-founded Softelligence Romania with his brother Adrian Blidarus. The company develops and implements competitive business software solutions that stand alongside giant software producers worldwide for industries such as ﬁnancial services (banking and non-banking), retail and distribution. Softelligence has distinguished itself on the Romanian market by developing and selling its own software products (intellectual property), such as Softelligence EBS. Also, Softelligence is the ﬁrst and the most important partner of Microsoft Azure in Romania serving over 1 million end users from the cloud. The company registered 50 percent turnover growth at the end of 2014, a revival of the brand and a repositioning of the company on the market.

Vladimir Oane, Dan Ciotu, Dragos Ilinca, uberVU JUDGING CRITERIA Development of the business over the past two years; unique characteristics of the business; results achieved against investment and the overall industry; the ethics and values exempliﬁed in the business; the added value of his/her business on the market; no business with the state.

Dan Isai, CEO & founder of SaladBox SaladBox was created from the desire to promote a healthy lifestyle and to offer an alternative to fast food. The objective is to create the ﬁrst and the biggest healthy food network of restaurants in Romania and Europe. SaladBox has a network of 30 locations in Romania, Hungary and Germany and for the moment is the ﬁrst and the largest healthy network of restaurants in Romania. As it is a new concept on the market, the company managed to extend in a very short period of time: 30 locations in three years, two abroad and 28 in Romania. The company posted a EUR 500,000 turnover in 2012, while last year it was EUR 8.5 million.

Ionut Patrahau, co-founder of the Brain Institute The main objective of the Brain Institute was to establish a neurosurgery clinic as a not for proﬁt organization. Later, it grew into a neuroscience institute. The market approach had three pillars: great medical quality at minimum prices; a multidisciplinary approach centered on the patient's problem instead of medical specialties; to expand social access based on the

The uberVU Social Analytics dashboard is consistently rated as one of the top ﬁve products of its kind in the world. Its biggest differentiator is that it targets non analysts inside large enterprises. uberVU competitors provide more powerful social analytics tools that are targeted at data scientists and business analysts and are complex to use and very slow. uberVU's innovative approach, on the other hand, takes advantage of the consumerization of the enterprise and of the fact that more and more non-technical people need to use social analytics to get their job done. From that standpoint, uberVU is the only product of its kind poised to take advantage of this emerging trend: the proliferation of social media throughout departments of enterprise companies.

Andrei Dunca, CTO at LiveRail Andrei Dunca has been CTO of LiveRail since 2007, when he co-founded the company. LiveRail provides a suite of online video advertising technology products and is a leader in the online video advertising industry. The company was acquired by Facebook, Inc. in 2014. As CTO of LiveRail, Dunca led the global engineering team responsible for building LiveRail’s product and technology, and provided leadership and vision for the company during the past eight years. As co-founder and CTO, Dunca was instrumental in successfully closing the acquisition of LiveRail by Facebook.

Ruxandra Hurezeanu for Ivatherm Ivatherm posted a turnover of RON

7,047,045 and a 10 percent market share in Romania in 2014. The company is ranked fourth among the Romanian dermo-cosmetics producers and is the ﬁrst and sole Romanian dermo-cosmetic company. Recently it started to extend its activity abroad, being present on markets in Asia, the Moldova Republic and China (online only). Last year it participated in four international fair trades: Shanghai Beauty Expo, Beauty Eurasia (Istanbul), CosmeTokyo and Beyond Beauty AbuDhabi. The company is now in discussions to ﬁnd partners to distribute and promote its products in other foreign countries.

DEALS OF THE YEAR JUDGING CRITERIA Value of the transaction; impact within the industry/local business scene and economy as a whole; new elements characteristic to the transaction.

Electrica for its IPO The Electrica IPO was the biggest in the history of the Romanian capital market. Electrica sold 177,188,744 shares and GRDs (about 51 percent of the total shares after a capital increase) in the IPO which took place between June 16 and June 25, 2014, for approximately EUR 444 million. The impact within the industry was very. Moreover, the IPO also caught the attention of foreign investors and was much discussed in the international arena. Finally, the IPO underlined commitment of the Romanian government to continue structural reforms and the opening of the economy.

Getin Holding for buying VB Leasing Romania and Poland On 9 September 2014, Getin Holding closed the deal to buy 100 percent in VB Leasing Poland and VB Leasing Romania from VB Leasing International Holding. The transaction was to enhance the holding's position in the leasing sector and to carry on with its expansion in the Romanian market. VB Leasing Poland will strengthen Idea Bank-controlled Idea Leasing, whereas VB leasing Romania will become part of Romanian International Bank Group. Merging the thriving Romanian lease company into the group will reinforce the holding's position in this promising market and will allow for building foundations for a strong capital group concentrated round Romanian International Bank.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank for buying RBS Romania After successfully acquiring the retail portfolio of RBS Romania in 2013, UniCredit Tiriac Bank also integrated the corporate portfolio from the same bank in 2014. The integration will allow UniCredit Tiriac Bank to consolidate its leading position in the market.

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36 BR Awards market share, the largest company in Romania (in terms of turnover) and the main exporter (8 percent of Romania’s exports). In October last year it revealed new versions the Lodgy Stepway and Dokker Stepway at the Paris Motorshow while in June in launched the Limited Series Logan 10 years for Romanian market.

The lender posted a EUR 346 million turnover in 2014.

Arbis Capital Partners for Cargus - Urgent Curier deal Abris Capital Partners, the leading midmarket private equity fund for Central and Eastern Europe, acquired Urgent Curier at the end of May 2014, one of Romania’s leading domestic courier companies. The deal comes 20 months after Abris Capital Partners ﬁrst entered the Romanian courier segment by buying Cargus, one of the country’s biggest courier companies, in October 2012. The acquisition was followed by a merger of equals between Cargus and Urgent Courier, creating Urgent Cargus, a partnership that will give the two companies synergies that will allow Romanian customers to beneﬁt from the best products and services of both members of the merger.

uberVU acquisition by Hootsuite Media Inc. The major objective was integrating both the team and product so the new company could go to market with a joint offering as soon as possible. In terms of product integration, uberVU released an integrated app within three months of the acquisition. It also released the new Boards technology (real-time social media dashboards) within the same time-frame. This acquisition makes Hootsuite the leading integrated social relationship platform in the world, with 11 million users and offerings for both small businesses and enterprises. By ﬁlling a huge gap within Hootsuite's offering, uberVU helped increase Hootsuite's market valuation to USD 1 billion. Hootsuite was also able to compete and win several Fortune 50 deals against huge competitors such as Salesforce and Oracle by offering a more user-friendly, better integrated product.

LiveRail LiveRail provides a suite of online video advertising technology products and is a leader in the online video advertising industry. The company was acquired by Facebook, Inc. in 2014. As CTO of LiveRail, Andrei Dunca led the global engineering team responsible for building LiveRail’s product and technology, and provided leadership and vision for the company during the past eight years. As cofounder and CTO, Dunca was instrumental in successfully closing the acquisition of LiveRail by Facebook.

BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR JUDGING CRITERIA Main achievements during a year of tenure (strategy development, achievements, improvements of the company’s results, bold targets); to be involved in the community.

Steven van Groningen, CEO at Raiffeisen Bank Romania

Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO of Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) Following Ludwik Sobolewski’s vision, for the last year and a half, the BVB has been becoming an interest point on institutional investors’ radar. He managed to create a working group, initiated at the end of 2013, of various capital market stakeholders, working together with the aim of eliminating the barriers that are obstacles to the domestic capital market development. The goals of this working group have been further integrated into the strategy of the Financial Supervisory Authority under the STEAM project, and assumed by the capital market force of Coalitia Pentru Dezvoltarea Romaniei. All these decision makers have been working together, since 2014, to push Romania up the ladder to emerging markets status, in indices such as FTSE, S&P Dow Jones and MSCI.

Nicolai Beckers, CEO of Telekom Romania Nikolai Beckers was appointed CEO for Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania in April 2013. From this position, he coordinated the rebranding and the operational integration of the two operators, Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania. Under his helm the operator implemented a series of measures meant to lay the basis of a sustainable performance such as the development and deployment of a three-year plan; the restart of the investment plan; the implementation of the biggest outsource in the SEE region, the Blue Bird project and the development of a new business philosophy.

Nicolas Maure, CEO of Dacia, MD of Renault Romania Dacia became the automotive brand offering the youngest vehicle range on the European market with ﬁve new passengers models manufactured locally (Logan, Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Logan MCV and Duster) and three new models manufactured in Morocco (Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van). The company continued to invest in industrial projects which enabled Dacia to increase production capacities of in the vehicle and mechanical plants (such as Aluminum Foundry, TL gear boxes, mechanical parts, SKDs for new plant in Algeria). Dacia is the leader of Romanian automotive market with a 31.2 percent

Steven van Groningen is an expert on the Central and Eastern Europe banking market and over the past 20 years has held top management positions in subsidiaries of Western European banks in Romania, Hungary and Russia. Over the years van Groningen has become one of the most prominent ﬁgures in the Romanian business community. He is universally credited for the successful merger between the former loss-making Banca Agricola and Raiffeisenbank. Under the leadership of van Groningen, the bank that resulted after the merger – Raiffeisen Bank S.A. – soon developed into one of the most successful banks in Romania. For years in a row, Raiffeisen Bank has been one of the most profitable banks in the country.

Xavier Piesvaux, general manager of Mega Image He has been general manager of the company since 2008. Since then, Mega Image has grown as a proﬁtable business through expansion and the better performance of existing stores, providing a safe and stable place to work for its employees and associates and keep developing a sustainability policy, relevant for the market and the environment. The company focuses on four areas: customers, communities, its associates and sustainability.

EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS

fering the youngest vehicle range on the European market with ﬁve new passengers models manufactured locally (Logan, Sandero, Sandero Stepway, Logan MCV and Duster) and three new models manufactured in Morocco (Lodgy, Dokker and Dokker Van). The company continued to invest in industrial projects which enabled Dacia to increase production capacities of in the vehicle and mechanical plants (such as Aluminum Foundry, TL gear boxes, mechanical parts, SKDs for new plant in Algeria). Dacia is the leader of Romanian automotive market with a 31.2 percent market share, the largest company in Romania (in terms of turnover) and the main exporter (8 percent of Romania’s exports). In October last year it revealed new versions the Lodgy Stepway and Dokker Stepway at the Paris Motorshow while in June in launched the Limited Series Logan 10 years for Romanian market.

eMAG eMAG is currently present in three markets (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary), with Poland operations opening in 2015 and other markets launching in the period to come. By the end of 2014, eMAG had launched its own dedicated mobile app, currently installed by more 200,000 users. More than one third of total traffic on eMAG.ro comes from mobile devices. The company achieved the fast development of eMAG Marketplace: in December 2013 11 different vendors were integrated on the eMAG platform. Just a year later, by the end of 2014, 234 vendors were integrated. Also, in 2014 eMAG launched four new categories: auto, supermarket, home&deco, and sport. The opening of the software development hubs in Iasi and Craiova, the eMAG IT Research center, but also eMAG Academy, the first online business school in Romania, are just a few examples of operating agilely on an increasingly difficult market to address, especially for technical resources. The company posted a turnover of EUR 295 million last year.

JUDGING CRITERIA Business growth over the previous year; sustainable development strategy; top market position; quality HR policies; development of new best-practices in a speciﬁc industry; adoption/ implementation of industry best-practices; exceptional business growth compared with peers.

Mega Image

Mega Image continued its accelerated expansion rate in 2014, by opening 118 new stores and achieving a network of 410 stores at the end of the year, which positioned it among the largest retail supermarkets chain, with a leading position. The expansion mainly focused on Bucharest and the surrounding cities, with two brands of stores: Mega Image Dacia Dacia became the automotive brand of- for proximity and Shop&Go for convenience stores. One of the main achievements in 2014 for Mega Image was launching its ﬁrst online store, in collaboration with eMAG, under the name “Supermarket la tine acasa”, having nationwide coverage. The second large achievement was the acquisition of 19 Angst stores. This takeover is part of Mega Image’s development strategy by including stores that are very well positioned in urban areas. anda.sebesi@business-review.ro

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IT 37

Where to draw Change the game the line with the with XPLAIN! Big Brother laws? by Stefanos Karagos, Founder ADVERTORIAL

Recent events threatening the safety of EU citizens in some countries have again put the so-called Big Brother laws, concerning cyber-security, data retention and the registration of prepay cards, on the public agenda in Romania. The heated debate around some of the stipulations of the laws invite questions about where the line should be drawn as far as individual privacy is concerned and where fighting crime begins. volving the personal data of telecommunication users in Romania, since the local authorities have not yet found The Big Brother laws will be reanalyzed a formula that both ensures that citiat the request of Romanian president zens’ rights are respected while also Klaus Iohannis, who called for author- strengthening national security. “All the four fundamental aspects ities to “find a balance between respecting individual freedoms and raised by NGOs regarding the cyber-sepreventing terrorism, cybercrime and curity law, such as access to data, the relevant authority, very loose definifighting corruption.” In January the Romanian Constitu- tions and unclear obligations, were tional Court rejected three bills – the confirmed by the Constitutional Court, data retention bill, the prepay card bill which ruled them unconstitutional. In and the cyber-security law. Following fact, the Constitutional Court has dethe president’s plea, the laws will be re- clared unconstitutional many other asanalyzed by the Operative Council of pects that were not raised at all by civil society,” Manolea told BR. “Before talkCybernetic Security. “This initiative aims to surpass the ing about the law, we need to clarify blockage registered at the moment, to the principles underlining it, and have reach alignment with the decisions of a real public consultation with the prithe Constitutional Court and inform vate, academic sector and civil society.” The cyber-security law did not pass public opinion better regarding the legal measures and their effects. The the Supreme Council for the Country’s new analysis of the legislation in this Defense, which is one of the reasons field will also include consultations why it was rejected by the Constituwith civil society, before starting a new tional Court. In that form, the bill required ownlegislative process at the level of Parliament, since the participation of repre- ers of cybernetic infrastructures to put sentatives of civil society is data at the disposal of the Romanian indispensable for meeting those who Intelligence Service (SRI) but also other have in the past been reticent about institutions, upon request. However, some stipulations,” ran an official since the SRI is a military institution, the court decided that this flouted Eustatement from the president’s office. The law on Romania’s cybernetic ropean norms. According to the Court motivation security was rejected by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it goes for the decision, “the option to appoint against stipulations in the Romanian a civil body as national authority in the field of cyber-security, instead of a milConstitution. “The rapid reaction of the Romanian itary entity with intelligence activity, is authorities shows us that they had justified, in order to prevent the risk of used a moment when human rights defying the purpose of the cyber-secuwere violated in order to push forward rity law. The secret services should not again some ideas of generalized sur- use the law’s provisions to obtain data veillance that are disproportionate,” and information that violate the conBogdan Manolea, founder of the web- stitutional rights to privacy, a private site www.legi-internet.ro and a mem- family life and the privacy of correber of the Association for Technology spondence. This is precisely what the and Internet, told Business Review, in submitted draft does not observe, by respect to the cybercrime and the pre- putting the Romanian Intelligence Service and its military structure, the pay card laws. The Court was reluctant to approve National Center for Cybernetic Security, some of the stipulations of the laws in- in charge.”

& CEO of the Leading Digital Marketing Agency XPLAIN

∫ OTILIA HARAGA

Stefanos Karagos, Founder & CEO of the Leading Digital Marketing Agency XPLAIN (www.xplain.co), “challenges” Brands and Companies to seriously invest in their digital presence, aiming at moving from Social Media to Social Business. Mr. Karagos, could you give us an overview of XPLAIN and its services? XPLAIN is a Leading Digital Marketing Agency, focused on Brands’ Business Results. Our main focus and scope is a holistic Digital Strategy for brands’ performance, and not merely the Social Media environment, which is a vital part of the mix but not the only one. The Strategy and Advisory Services include extensive research leading to Business Intelligence Analysis, as well as Consumer Behaviour and Pattern Analysis. Additionally, XPLAIN offers a wide array of services like Lead Generation, Reputation Management and Content Marketing. We are specialized in a number of industries like: Retail, Auto-industry, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Travel / Tourism, Shopping Centers, Luxury Goods and Technology with more than 130 great local and multinational clients, in 10 countries. From your experience with so many different Clients / Brands, what do they ask from their web presence?

Consistency, innovation, effectiveness and a precise roadmap. Of course, they need a partner that has the deep knowledge to guide them towards a successful digital presence. The… magic with the web and the social media is that now we have the resources to implement highly targeted and personalized activations. For example, out of 7.6 million Facebook Romanian accounts, 6.74 million users (88,7%) have selected location for their profiles. The potential of this fact in terms of personalization is enormous! Brands can have qualified reach of micro-segments that fit in a predefined profile, interacting with them and succeed in the conversion funnel. What part does Romania play at XPLAIN’s overall strategy? Romania, for XPLAIN, is a key market, which plays a vital role for its further development and evolution. That's why we have a fully-staffed office in Bucharest with Digital Marketing Experts, and we are more than sure that in the near future XPLAIN’s presence will be further empowered. Romania has a unique combination of elements that differentiates it from most of the region’s countries, with extrovert companies that have deeply understood the essence of Digital in the Marketing mix, eager to utilize the strength of new online opportunities. Why a Marketer should choose XPLAIN? Where does it differ? Our main differentiating factor is that XPLAIN integrates brands into people’s everyday lives, through the humanization of their nature. We create Experiences worth sharing for the Brands’, positioning themselves in Consumers’ consideration list, through innovative marketing value propositions, that aim at conversion from mere fans to customers. At the same time we are the only results- driven Marketing Agency and we fully commit on the success and pre-defined KPI’s at the beginning of every cooperation.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

38 IT

Romania is one of the countries discussing a cyber-crime security law but so far the lawmakers have not managed to pass a viable version of the law

The law does not protect the rights of the citizens enough, said the Constitutional Court in its motivation. “The request for access to the retained data, to use it according to the purpose of the law which is formulated by the state institutions designated as authorities in cyber-security, is not dependent on authorization or approval from the judge, so there is no warranty regarding eﬃcient data protection against the risk of abuse or against any access or illicit use of these data. This represents interference in the fundamental rights to privacy, a private family life and private correspondence,” stated the court. The Constitutional Court concluded that the law is “not precise and predictable enough; the state interference

in the constitutional rights to privacy, private family life, and the secret of correspondence, even though predicted by the law, is not formulated clearly, rigorously and exhaustively, to give citizens conﬁdence in it, which is essential in a democratic society.” Asked by BR, Manolea said there are countries that have no cyber-security law and others that do. “The United States is only proposing to have one now. Germany has also been discussing it but I believe most European states are waiting to see the result of the European directive that will probably be adopted in 2015, in order not to do the work twice.” Meanwhile, the Romanian Intelligence Service protested against the de-

"The rapid reaction of the Romanian authorities shows us that they had used a moment when human rights were violated in order to push forward again some ideas of generalized surveillance that are disproportionate,” Bogdan Manolea, founder of the websitewww.legi-internet.ro

cision of the Constitutional Court, claiming that the law does not allow state access to data related to the private life of individuals without previous authorization from a judge. The SRI dismissed the “fears, speculation and accusations formulated in the public space” as lacking “any real grounds”. At that time, George Maior, former chief of the SRI, lashed out against the Constitutional Court. “I wish to give a very serious warning that there is a moral responsibility somewhere, in this state, regarding the national security of Romanian citizens – not from the state, because I am no longer speaking about the state – but at the time when a catastrophe hits, I will know at whom I will point the ﬁnger,” he said. Regarding the law on prepay card registration, Maior said it offers “an absolutely vital analysis capacity” to investigate certain national security threats, but since it was rejected, this created “a unique legislative void” and now the only alternative is to use the other instruments at their disposal. “In Romania debates have started again in Parliament on the matter of the informatic law, but we are forgetting to talk about the principles that should underline the law. In the United States President Obama is barely dar-

ing to open discussion about this subject after the NSA failure,” commented Manolea on the website http://privacy.apti.ro/. “This week I have learned that Germany is also discussing a law regarding cybernetic security. The first difference is that instead of hidden text and just ten days for comments, they do it exactly the other way round – the first draft has been out since March 2013, and the latest since December 2014. All are public. And they have not reached completion; they have not yet involved the states, since Germany is a federal state, so it will take at least another year. So what could they discuss for two years while we are preparing a law in just six months?” he wondered. “The purpose is the protection of IT security in companies that are considered critical infrastructure and the protection of citizens and their personal data.” The analyst told BR that, with the exception of the necessary correction of article 152 in the Criminal Code, nothing is “urgent or immediately necessary”. “Germany has been discussing a law on informatics security for two years and their IT systems are just fine,” he commented. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

PITECH+PLUS makes big bet on experienced team by enabling business to innovate Instead of assuming that there is only one route to freedom, explore all possible routes. In Greek mythology, Theseus used Ariadne’s thread to defeat the Minotaur and crack the labyrinth. Instead of assuming that there was only one route to freedom, Theseus explored all possible routes, as many times as needed, knowing that the thread would always lead him back to the start. Behind every game-changing idea there is a leader who manages to find the right solution regardless of the overall context. Today the most successful companies are the ones who manage to adapt to an environment by choosing strategies that overcome worldwide challenges. PITECH+PLUS is a group of digital companies specialized in consultancy & outsourcing. Established in December 2005, by businessman Bogdan Herea, the group will celebrate ten years of activity at the end of 2015. Headquartered in Cluj-Napoca, with offices in Targu Mures, Bucharest, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin, PITECH+PLUS started its journey with 10 employees, and now has 250. Experts in their field, and able to deliver complex projects, they aim to make a significant contribution to the industry development in Romania in two areas: education in the field of computer programming and innovation.

PITECH+PLUS’s goal is to create a framework for passionate young people in order to unlock talent, and create more value, faster.

the speed of innovation. Nevertheless, innovation is effective if one can master the concept of relevance. Working on several markets, with different clients, PITECH+PLUS’s team found its way to relevance by dealing with challenging projects around the world.

Innovation is effective if one can master the concept of relevance. When asked about his secret, Wayne Gretzky, the famous hockey player, nicknamed “the Great One” said, “I skate where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” And that’s exactly the mind-set of a game-changer. To evolve, PITECH+PLUS understood that it must be adaptive to changes. In the last decade, the domain it works in has changed dramatically. In order to succeed the firm had to become faster, more flexible and more open. This is how it transformed a threat such as the lack of human resources in the field of computer programming into an opportunity for every interested stakeholder, by launching a vocational school that teaches passionate people how to program according to industry standards. Developed in partnership with School 42, founded in Paris by the telecom magnate Xavier Niel,

ADVERTORIAL

The call for more than IT services derives from the context. Last year, in a public conference, the former minister of the Romanian ministry of communications and informational society declared that the IT&C sector was the third biggest GDP contributor in 2014. The main reasons are probably investments and human resources. Each year we hear about Romania’s successful team at the International Olympiads in Informatics. In a country striving to develop and align to European standards, valuable human resources are our country’s success factors. PITECH+PLUS’s goal is to create a framework for passionate young people in order to unlock their talent, and create more value by increasing

Bogdan Herea, CEO & Founder

PITECH+PLUS has a division dealing with more than 25 start-up companies that have technology at the core of their business model. The team is working hand in hand with the client. Internal stories call it “the Land of Hope”. “This segment of clients is strategically for us. Since the very beginning I knew that I want to grow a team of free people. Free to think in a creative sense, free to investigate many pathways and to pick the right solution, free to have the courage to say ‘No’ to a potential client for various reasons. My belief was that the entrepreneurial spirit is like this, free and bold. Having entrepreneurs around my team I could observe how the two cultures merge in such a positive manner for all the company,” says Herea. Although PITECH+PLUS has been delivering high quality services since 2005, two start-ups developed internally, as part of the group, are to be launched in the last quarter of 2015. While adding products to services, PITECH+PLUS team remains enthusiastic about the future, and able to create bold, innovative and necessary products. PARKING+PLUS is a parking soACADEMY+PLUS brings a brand new lution, developed in partnership with concept in education. It focuses on the the IT Cluster of Cluj-Napoca. The positive impact that a teaching method purpose of this app is to help drivers can have on apprentices, and also on find available parking places while saving time for more important aca tailored learning mix. “The academy is designed to equip tivities. talented young people with the tools Another innovative product for they need to lead innovation at their the Romanian market is an invoice future work place or as entrepreneurs remittance solution that connects of tomorrow,” says Bogdan Herea, utility providers with banks and founder of ACADEMY+PLUS. clients. The goal of Youssef Hautier, general manager of SONIC+PAY, It’s on us to understand and a former graduate of HEC Unithat we have to think back versity of Lausanne, is to deliver a to the future. (Bogdan platform that will enable its users Herea) to save time when paying their inWith the proliferation of technology, voices while keeping total control – we hear all the time about new busi- and saving trees by ditching the paness models, about behavioral per invoice. changes in terms of new media consumption, about how the world can be PITECH+PLUS is a group of commore connected. Bogdan Herea, founder of PITECH+PLUS says, “It’s panies specialized in consultancy & on us to understand that we have to outsourcing for the IT industry. The think back to the future, and take de- business started in 2005, when a cisions that can have a meaningful im- PHP development office was pact either on our clients or on society founded in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. overall.” The first new business line was The second area where he aims to RODEAPPS, a company specialized make a significant contribution is in in mobile applications and mobile the way companies and individuals ap- technology. In 2014, the group proach innovation. For PITECH+PLUS launched ACADEMY+PLUS, and this term has solid grounds, nurtured started to work on developing two from the very beginning of the com- internal start-ups: PARKING+PLUS pany. and SONIC+PAY.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

40 mediA

Group consolidation to shape advertising sector in 2015 Probably one of the most dynamic and interesting industries on the Romanian market, the advertising sector suffered a big downshift in power and budgets when the crisis engulfed the local economy. Since 2013 it has been said that the industry is starting to recover and get its mojo back, but the positive projections have yet to materialize. Still, independent agencies are forming and trying to get a piece of the big companies’ pie. Some of them are even succeeding. The competition is getting ever fiercer, even though budgets and the projects are still some way from the 2008 golden era. ∫ RomAniTA opReA In this context, following an international trend, the big advertising groups are starting to consolidate their position on the market, gathering their resources under one roof. The main example is Publicis Groupe, which took major steps in 2014. The latest move came in November, when Publicis Groupe and Centrade Saatchi&Saatchi announced that the Saatchi & Saatchi brand in Romania would be consolidated under a sole legal entity, Lion Communication, which has as its main shareholder Publicis Groupe. The group’s three local brands, namely Publicis, Leo Burnett and Saatchi&Saatchi, will be brought under the Lions Communication umbrella. The real transfer of Saatchi started on January 1. Since then, the agency and the team headed by Radu Florescu continue to function as an independent entity, keeping their portfolio of clients. “We had a very good relationship with Centrade Saatchi & Saatchi and Radu Florescu. Our decision doesn’t reﬂect in any way any dissatisfaction with the agency’s performance, as it handled a large range of clients and bore the name Saatchi & Saatchi in an admirable manner. Publicis Groupe will continue the partnership with the Florescu brothers for Zenith Media,”

“At a global level, situations that we couldn’t have thought of a few years ago have appeared. Some are consolidation exercises and others will go down in history as failures” Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy & Mather Romania

Roxana Memetea, managing partner at DDB Romania

Cristina Blanaru, editor in chief at AdHugger

Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy & Mather Romania

said Justin Billingsley, COO at Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA, at the time. Radu Florescu, CEO of Centrade Saatchi & Saatchi, remains confident that the agency’s workflow and list of clients will not change and the agency will function as before, and time will tell if this is the case. Centrade was one of the first advertising agencies launched in Romania, in 1992, since when it has won over 40 prizes at local and international creative festivals such as Cannes Lions (with Saatchi Germany), Clio Awards, the New York Film Festival, Golden Drum, EFFIE and World Luxury Awards. Publicis Groupe’s consolidation in Romania started in November 2010 when the company announced it had acquired three long-term affiliate companies in Romania, merging them into an integrated agency, Publicis Communications Services Bucharest. The move led to the creation of a single agency encompassing Publicis Romania, Focus Advertising and Publicis Events, managed by Teddy Dumitrescu as CEO. In September 2013, Publicis Groupe acquired Zenith Romania, taking majority control of the agency, according to company officials. A

month later, Publicis Groupe announced a further big move by buying the majority stake (51 percent) in aﬃliate agencies on the local market, namely Leo Burnett & Target, Starcom MediaVest Group, Optimedia, The Practice and iLeo. The company integrated Publicis Communication Services Bucharest and the then newly acquired agencies under the Publicis Romania umbrella. Dumitrescu and Stefan Iordache became co-CEOs and Dumitrescu country chairman, reporting to Tomasz Pawlikowski, CEO of Central and Eastern Europe, Publicis Worldwide. Later that year, also as part of Publicis Groupe’s plans for consolidation, Romanian company The Practice joined Publicis’ PR network MSL and turned into MSLGroup The Practice. Publicis Group was not the only advertising international group to make a statement last year. In May, TBWA Bucharest, part of TBWA Worldwide and the local independent agency Friends Advertising, announced that they would combine their operations in Romania. The newly created agency, Friends TBWA\Bucharest, was to take responsibility for TBWA’s existing local and international client base in Romania,

governed by an aﬃliation agreement. The business is headed by Friends’ management team and a substantial number of TBWA employees moved to Friends Advertising’s oﬃce. TBWA’s managing director in Bucharest, Doris Danner, continued to assist with the transition of business to Friends Advertising. The Romanian Friends Advertising agency was an independent agency founded in 2003 by Bojan Spasic and Sorin Tranca. Spasic and Tranca form one of the most garlanded creative teams in Romania and certainly the one with greatest longevity, having been working together for almost 16 years now.

The business of change So will this trend continue and what will happen to the local agencies, even those with long traditions? Manuela Necula, CEO at Ogilvy & Mather Romania, considers the communication industry a perfect reﬂection of the economic situation, both at a macro and a micro level. “As we observe more and more often, globally, the mergers & acquisitions process between companies in diverse domains, from ﬁnancial and FMCG to pharmaceutical, retail and technology, has accelerated in the

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

“Since the ﬁnancial crisis we are ﬁghting over the same local clients. The clients that arrived via the network still exist, but things are not as interesting for the multinationals as they used to be” Serban Alexandrescu, creative director & managing partner at Headvertising

mediA 41

Serban Alexandrescu, creative director & managing partner at Headvertising

doesn’t foresee any real threat. “Being part of an international agency gives you a ticket to the ‘elite club’, but it doesn’t guarantee you success in business. Time identifies the real talent and we see lots of well performing, creative and efficient Romanian agencies.” Local independent agencies – small and medium ones – always had past few years. It is the same in the to prove themselves more than the communication industry. Behind other agencies, when it comes to both these big moves these is always a reaching/being considered for agenstrategic, economic and financial in- cies’ roster of big clients and attractterest. At a global level, situations that ing their budgets. “Not surprisingly, we couldn’t have thought of a few local small and medium agencies do years ago have appeared. Some are not have a problem in the creativity consolidation exercises and others department – as they deliver flawwill go down in history as failures,” lessly when they have the chance to work with a big client – but they just said Necula. Last year brought much discussion can’t make the big players invite them about the possibility that WPP would to the party,” said Cristina Blanaru, lose its global supremacy, following editor in chief at AdHugger, a veteran the merger between Publicis and Omnicom. “But, at the end of an extremely complex period, huge energy and financial investments, the merger was abandoned and WPP kept the number one spot in the rankings. People do business with people. We shouldn’t forget that communication is, probably more than any other sector of activity, a ‘people business’,” added the CEO. Roxana Memetea, managing partner at DDB Romania, part of the group, believes that this trend is in line with the needs of clients, who, after many experiences and market developments, have reached the point when they are looking for partners/agencies capable of delivering very well executed brand strategies on any type of media (including digital). “We are in the situation of going ‘back to the future’, towards the ‘umbrella’ type agency, like it was 20 years ago. The economic changes in the last seveneight years, along with the technical development, have reset things on media & advertising journalist. According to her, the problem for the market. We are referring to the concentration of effort and specializa- local agencies was always reaching tion under a consolidated and big the client and managing to get an invitation to a certain pitch. In Romania, brand,” said Memetea. What was known as integrated the top ad budget spenders are services offered by multiple special- mostly multinational corporations; in ists has been reoriented towards the most cases, they do not have a say in “umbrella” concept, which gives com- choosing agencies to work with loplete “one voice, multiple services”. cally, as advertising and marketing “The full service agency is reborn in a policies come from their international or regional headquarters. “Usually, new formula,” concluded Memetea. As a representative of one the local when it comes to a big client, an adagencies, the DDB managing partner vertising network takes over the ac-

“Being part of an international agency gives you a ticket to the ‘elite club’, but it doesn’t guarantee you success in business. Time identiﬁes the real talent and we see lots of well performing, creative and efﬁcient Romanian agencies” Roxana Memetea, managing partner at DDB Romania

count at regional level and coordi- ally wanted was to have the chance to nates it in a centralized manner: it reach wider international expertise, drafts the overall communication and because we knew it really worked. advertising, then commissions its Therefore, we decided to be part for a local offices from particular markets while of a network of local, independto localize and adapt the existing con- ent agencies – WorldWide Partners – tent locally. Joining forces regionally that were trying to help each other or worldwide and forming networks when in need, with ideas, change exto provide services to companies with perience, resource tips and new communication needs on specific clients. We are still in touch with the markets is one of the ways to counter agencies that we liked,” said Alexanthe big players. Or they become drescu, creative director & managing subcontractors to the main agencies, partner at Headvertising. handling parts of the accounts which match their skill set,” said Blanaru. Necula recalls a telling event, which happened two years ago, at the Cannes International Festival of Advertising. After a spectacular confrontation between the two communication titans, Dan Wieden from the famous independent agency Weiden&Kennedy and Sir John Hegarty, from BBH, who gave the audience a real show, followed by long rounds of applause, Wieden received the Lion of St. Mark award, for “outstanding contribution to creativity in communication”. He gave a striking speech, which ended by calling on all the independent agencies not to sell their business. He was followed on stage by Martin Sorrell, who received the trophy for Holding Company of the Year for the third time in a row. The Ogilvy network, owned by WPP, which also won for the third year in a row the title of Network of the Year, had contributed a lot to Sorrell’s win . A few weeks later, Hegarty anHe believes that local agencies nounced that he had sold the rest of have a more pragmatic view of the his shares in his company BBH to business, but does not see big differPublicis. ences between the local and the inter“Looking back at this story, which I national agencies based in Romania. found very interesting, I am not sure “Since the financial crisis we are fightthere is a reason for independent ing over the same local clients. The agencies to fear the future. Personally, clients that arrived via the network I hope not. Consolidation under an in- still exist, but things are not as interternational brand can also have disad- esting for the multinationals as they vantages for both parties. One thing is used to be. The reason is, in my opinfor sure, though: in order to achieve ion, that some networks acted selfsuccess, both organizations need to ishly by opening regional hubs, where adjust to each other and to be in tune they adapt and translate the commerwith each other. And that takes iron cials, a process that used to be done strength,” said Necula. locally. Therefore, the network keeps the client, but the money they used to Freedom can make or break a fund the local agencies remains at the center,” added Alexandrescu. The business Although there are fewer and local network office has to fight for fewer independent, long-time adver- survival with experienced industry tising agencies on the Romanian mar- people, a situation in which they tend ket, those that are still thriving after to lose. The main advantage, but also all these years look set to be here to disadvantage, of being a local comstay. A pertinent example is Headver- pany is the freedom. Not being forced tising, which recently celebrated 17 by network policy or a change of heart, years on the market. The agency, run you can work on your daily clients not by Serban Alexandrescu, has been worrying that you might be “discourted over the years by several in- missed” because of a budget cut or ternational groups, such as Young & “packed” from two networks in one. Rubicam and McCann. “Given that “You don’t have to share the same they only wanted from us what we al- building with an agency that is your ready asked of each other, we didn’t competition or to fire people, because consider that a good strategic move. someone else, far away, over the Still, in the horrible economic situa- Ocean, has decided so,” Alexandrescu tion over 2010-2011, Alexandrescu said. wondered many times if he had really made the best decision. “What we re- editorial@business-review.ro

“not surprisingly, local small and medium agencies don’t have a problem in the creativity department – as they deliver ﬂawlessly when they have the chance to work with a big client – but they just can’t make the big players invite them to the party” Cristina Blanaru, editor in chief at AdHugger

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

42 cIty fILM

Director Radu Jude takes silver Bear ∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

editorial@business-review.ro

Photo: Florin Ghioca

Local movie Aferim! impressed Berlin at the beginning of the month, winning the Silver Bear for best director at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. The movie, set in the 19th century, tells the story of a local policeman, Costandin, who is hired by boyar Iordache to find Carfin, a Gypsy slave who had run away from the boyar’s estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana. Costandin sets out to find the fugitive, beginning an adventurous journey. Reuters news agency notes, “While some search for the origin of Romania’s social troubles in its communist past, director Radu Jude returns to the early 19th century in Aferim!, to show a pitiful world of cruelty and deep prejudice, which he believes still informs attitudes today.” According to the same source, modern Romania is home to around 2.5 million Roma, or roughly a sixth of the population, many of whom are still the victims of extreme poverty, prejudice and social exclusion. Costing EUR 1.25 million to make, the movie was produced by HiFilm Productions and co-produced by Klas Film (Bulgaria), Endorfilm (Czech Republic) and EZ Films (France). Shooting took place in July 2014. The movie will be screened in Romania from March 13. Aferim!, a Turkish word which means “bravo”, was created by Radu Jude (in picture) and has the same producer, Ada Solomon, as the Romanian film Child's Pose, which won the Golden Bear in 2013

MuseuM

Romanian Peasant Museum marks 25th anniversary ∫ tAtIANA LAZAR The Romanian Peasant Museum has commemorated a quarter of a century of operations with a series of free guided tours of its permanent collections and a traditional fair where popular artists came to sell their products, from traditional clothing to traditional homemade goods. The anniversary events complement the museum’s program of weekly themed traditional fairs and cultural events, plus its cinema, bookstore and restaurant. The museum has a checkered history. In 1990, then minister of culture Andrei Plesu nominated painter Horia Bernea to become the director of the institution in order to re-establish the collections removed during the communist era. Six years later, the museum was blooming, winning the prestigious EMYA award for European

If you don’t have the time to see the museum, check it on Google Institute

museum of the year, the only one in Romania to have earned this distinction.

The facility is in Bucharest’s Victoriei Square, next to the Grigore Antipa Natural Science Museum and the Geology Museum. The construction of the building, including its design, was the work of Nicolae Ghika-Budesti, one of the most feted architects of the time. Construction took over 29 years and the building opened in 1941. It is representative of the neo-Romanian style, inspired by traditional architecture, especially Brancovenesc, with a composition using mainly ﬂoral and zoomorphic decorations. Features include the visible red bricklayer, the big windows under arches, the columns of the logia and the elegant silhouette of the main tower recalling bell towers in old monasteries. The initial plan was for a National Art Museum with art historian Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcas being a director for over 40 years. When Romania was occupied by Soviet forces,

in the so-called “liberation” of 1944, the museum was also “liberated” from its home and replaced with the Lenin-Stalin Museum. The National Art Museum moved, as a tenant, to Stirbei Palace on Calea Victoriei for 25 years and under a new name: the Popular Art Museum of the Romanian Popular/Socialist Republic. During this period, museographers were forced to stash away some valuable collection pieces, especially religious ones, for ideological reasons. However, they managed to increase the stock of peasant art threefold. Over years, the building has been used as the Lenin-Stalin Museum, as well as Lenin Museum, Romanian Communist Party Museum and the History Museum of the Romanian Communist Party and of the Revolutionary and Democratic Movement. editorial@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

cIty 43 BookestoRe

3Q Ana Lungu film director

New chapter: Carturesti bookstore opens in Old Town

Photo: Ana Lungu

Is the story of the ﬁlm also your story? Yes and no. Cristiana’s parents are played by my parents, her friends are mine; from this point of view, her life is similar to mine. Apart from this, the situations from the movie were invented, they are fictional. Cristiana is a made up character, not me, and Elena Popa contributed significantly to create it. How would you characterize Romanian independent cinema at the moment? It seems it is a good year for Romanian film. Many productions have already been selected for some of the most important international film festivals and I understand that there will be many local premieres, so I’m very optimistic. Regarding independent cinema, meaning with no financial support from the National Cinema Center, I don’t know many such movies that managed to reach the silver screen. However, it is a very good thing that the technology has developed and you can make a movie without too much financial support and I think we should benefit from it. editorial@business-review.ro

Photo: Carturesti

Was it difﬁcult to cast the main characters of self-Portrait of a Dutiful Daughter? For the female lead, Cristiana, we didn’t have auditions; we chose directly Elena Popa, an actress at Sfantu Gheorghe Theater, whom I knew from Radu Afrim and Iris Spiridon’s productions. We met two years ago in Bucharest, I gave her the script, she read it while traveling home on the train and when she arrived at Brasov station, she called me to say she liked the role and wanted to play it. For the male lead, several actors came to audition, but we finally chose Emilian Oprea, because he matched the character.

Built in 1860, the structure now known as Chrissoveloni House was bought by Greek banker Nicolas Chrissoveloni in the early 1900s. It was conﬁscated by the communists in the late 1940s. Six years ago, Jean Chrissoveloni, the great-grandson of Nicolas Chrissoveloni, recovered the building and began reconstruction works in 2010. The Carturesti chain of bookstores is controlled by local entrepreneurs Nicoleta Dumitru and Serban Radu. It has grown to a chain of 16 shops, not including the Chrissoveloni location. Carturesti works with over 300 national and international suppliers, offering more than 15,000 different books, 5,000 music albums, 1500 art titles, 500 movies and over 400 varieties of tea. The building is located on 55 Lipscani Street.

To explore all the six ﬂoors, you need more than one day editorial@business-review.ro

∫ sIMoNA BAZAvAN, tAtIANA LAZAR The revamped Chrissoveloni House in Bucharest’s Old Town now hosts a Carturesti bookstore, after 14 months of rebuilding works. “The investment in the library amounts to an estimated EUR 400,000 to EUR 450,000, not including the stock, which will require a similar amount. The property is being renovated by the owner and will require around EUR 1.2 million,” Valentin Salageanu, project manager at Carturesti, told Business Review in an interview back in February 2014. Chrissoveloni House, which was home to a famous bank during the inter-war period, has undergone EUR 1.2 million of restoration works after the heir of the former owner regained the property, which had been confiscated by communists. The new design was the work of architects Square One. The 1,000 sqm consists of six floors, with a bistro on the top floor, a multimedia space in the basement and a contemporary art gallery on the first floor. According to Adrian Cancer, one of the partners of Square One, everything was designed and created especially for the building and all the materials were made in Romania.

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

44 cIty PReMIeRe

Bucharest National opera stages verdi’s falstaff ∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

Photo: Bucharest National Opera

Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera returns to the Bucharest National Opera House after many years of absence from its repertoire. The director is Graham Vick, known for his original and experimental stage productions. Anyone curious about the Briton’s inspiration for his local production can look to the 1999 Falstaff he staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, which took cues from the paintings of Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel, resulting in a mix of grotesque expression, balanced compositions and elementary colors. Vick, one of the world’s foremost opera directors, shifts the action to the modern day, addressing with typical English humor contemporary themes such as consumer society, virtue and greed, through the spiritual world of Shakespeare’s characters translated into musical theater by

Stefan Ignat and Iulia Isaev rehearsing

composer Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Arrigo Boito. The new production relies heavily

on the National Opera’s soloists, who are mostly debutants. The leading character is played by baritone Stefan

Ignat, one of the institution’s best known artists. Ignat previously worked with Vick in 2005 on Enescu’s Oedipe which was staged in Cagliari, Italy. Scenographer Samal Blak has also contributed to the production. One of the individual winners of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design 2009, who has previously worked with Vick in the UK, he is known for his costumes and decor for La Monnaire Theatre of Brussels, English Touring Opera, Scottish Opera, Music Theatre Wales, Norwegian Ostford Opera and Linbury Studio Theatre from the London Royal Opera House. The three-act opera is performed in Italian and subtitled in Romanian. The premiere took place on February 19. Further performances are scheduled for March 5-6 and May 14-15. Tickets can be bought online from http://tickets.operanb.ro/ editorial@business-review.ro

fILM RevIeW

Wish I Was Here DeBBIe stoWe Director: Zach Braff starring: Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Joey King, Pierce Gagnon, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, Jim Parsons on at: Cinemateca Union, Corso, Elvira Popescu, Europa, Studioul Horia Bernea – NCRR, Scala, Grand Cinema & More, Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema City Cotroceni Man grows up and learns that family matters most when a crisis pushes him to make life changes: we certainly have been here before. But while Zach Braff’s gentle comedydrama doesn’t cover new ground, it works its familiar formula with charm and wit, thanks to endearingly quirky characters and a sharp script. Aidan Bloom (Braff) is 35 and an actor (read: struggling), working his way wearily through a series of hopeless and hapless auditions as he waits for his big break. Understanding wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) supports the family – pious teenage daughter Grace (Joey King) and rambunctious son

Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) – with her dreary data entry job, while the kids’ Orthodox Jewish school fees are paid by Aidan’s gruff father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin) – until one day when they’re not. With the family unable to meet the fees themselves and a switch to public school not possible until next term, Aidan decides to home school the children. When the ﬁrst day ends with both of them duct-taped to a chair, it is clear that new methods are required. There follows some predicable paternal bonding and epiphanic moments, as events bring the wider Bloom family closer together. Such a plot could rapidly descend into daytime soap sentimentality, but this risk is averted by the irreverent screenplay, written by the director’s brother Adam Braff. In particular towards the beginning of the ﬁlm, wry one-liners come thick and fast, with neat observations on universal themes such as parenting, religion and failure. Aidan is a lapsed Jew, and this part of his life is beautifully mined for humor, particularly his awkward interactions with the rabbis

Blooming family: Zach Braff directs and stars in a warm family comedy-drama

at his children’s Orthodox school. The characterization and acting are another strong point. Aside from a cameo by The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, Kate Hudson is the only real star name – the ﬁlm was funded on Kickstarter. This low-key cast impresses, with Aidan’s slacker Comic-Con attending brother Noah (Josh Gad) providing some offbeat laughs as he prepares for the convention. As the movie proceeds, the comedy largely gives way to the drama. The impending Sad Event is handled sensitively and elicits emotion, but this plotline has been repeatedly re-

hashed in Hollywood and could have been tightened up. Things are rounded off rather too neatly and predictably, undermining some of the intelligent observations about the sacrifices and disappointments of adulthood made earlier on. But while the second half does not quite live up to the first, Wish I Was Here is still a very likable film, full of warmth and wit. Adam and Sarah’s career disillusionment and imperfect parenting – and the way they muddle through it all – will resonate with many adults. Hope blooms. debbie.stowe@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 2015

INteRvIeW 45

taking care of Romania’s institutionalized children Romania has worked hard to resolve some of the challenges around children in state care. Since 1990, the system has improved, but there is still plenty to do. BR talked to stefan Darabus, country director of Hope and Homes for Children Romania, about the current situation. another one to place the focus on proaction, instead of reaction. Also, the very low number of staff working with children/young people with or without disabilities is among our priorities. With a gap of 14,000 professionals missing from the childcare system, abuses, neglect and omissions are numerous. The absence of a methodology of intervention in preventing the separation of children from their families is another priority which is, however, under way in the Working Group within the Child Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Protection and Elderly. A government decision regarding such a methodology to prevent the separation of children from

∫ tAtIANA LAZAR

Is it possible to close all orphanages by 2020? How many are open now? Yes, it is possible to completely dismantle the institutional system and implicitly to reform the child protection system nationally, by open recog-

Photo: HHC

Give us an overview of how things stand regarding institutionalized children. The current picture of children in state care in Romania is as follows: l 21,728 children and youngsters are in residential services in the child protection system, and another 36,975 children have special protection in families (simple placements or foster families). Prevention programs and prevention services offer support to 54,547 children. It is relevant to note that the real ﬁgure of children living in absolute poverty is over 320,000. l Between 72 and 78 percent of all children in Romania suffer from material deprivation. This is more than in any other European state. l Extreme poverty (measured at USD 1.25/day), even if it can be considered “insigniﬁcant” as a proportion of the population, is much higher among children from single-parent or multiple-children households. l 8,200 children under the age of three suffer from malnutrition, according to formal records. This represents over 72 percent of all cases of malnutrition nationally. l 201 institutions (so-called orphanages) host 8,974 children, while 817 small family homes and family type apartments host another 7,740. l 100 institutions out of the 201 are institutions for children with special needs, with 4,782 children institutionalized. This means that a majority of institutions have children with special needs. l 82,000 children have one or both parents working abroad. All of them are at risk of abandonment or institutionalization, unless preventative interventions are taken, to support their extended family (grandparents and other relatives) currently keeping them in a family environment.

nition and action taken in this respect. We have developed a clear plan, with concrete steps, actions and milestones, proving it is realistic and achievable. The state authorities also seem to be on board in this initiative. The current minister of labor, Rovana Plumb, actually issued a formal press release, stating the target to eradicate child institutionalization in Romania by the end of 2020. What are the main challenges facing HHc Romania in 2015? The challenges to be tackled with a view to reforming the social assistance system in Romania are taking the necessary steps to ensure at least EUR 140 million of European Union funding for Romania from the 20142020 budget, allocated to closing institutions, developing family-like alternatives for children in care, preventing child separation from families, and developing social housing for the most vulnerable communities. Furthermore, dealing with the institutional mentality, which is strongly entrenched in the mindsets of those working in social services, is another challenge. A paradigm shift is needed, to place the focus on prevention, instead of dealing with the tragic results of abandonment and separation, and

their families would “turn off the tap” of admissions in the system. Also, we would like certified managers for social services, as the qualification does not appear in the Catalogue of Classifications. The acute lack of leadership and appropriate management has a negative impact on the care system, through lack of professionalism, poor leadership and haphazard approaches. Last but not least, we would like to improve the system for youngsters leaving care. Around 5,000 youngsters leave the child protection system every year, without support, without social housing, without any leverage to rely upon. editorial@business-review.ro

www.business-review.eu Business Review | January 2015

46 CALENdAR

Calendar ∫ tAtIANA LAZAR toto Cutugno February 27, Sala Palatului

Serenata and Insieme: 1992, when Italian singer Toto Cutugno returns to the Bucharest stage. The artist has recorded over 400 songs and sold more than 150 million records sold worldwide. Tickets cost from RON 100 to RON 500.

For the ﬁrst time in Romania, American jazzman Kurt Elling will present his Passion World project. Pianist Gary Versace, guitarist John McLean, bass player Clark Sommers and drummer Bryan Carter will join the Grammy award winner on stage. Tickets cost from RON 85 to RON 145 and are available from the Eventim network.

to the Radio Hall stage. The Frenchman will perform his own works, as well as some by Astor Piazzolla. Currently, the artist has created or arranged over 400 pieces for the accordion.

Joaquín Cortés March 15, Sala Palatului

Big Band Radio with Richard Galliano March 8, the Radio Hall

Jazz Night Out – Kurt Elling Passion World March 5, Radio Hall

Romanian music fans will once again have the opportunity to listen live to much loved hits such as L’Italiano,

Under the wand of Ionel Tudor, Richard Galliano, one of the greatest accordionists in the world, will return

After a three-year absence, Joaquín Cortés returns to Romania with his most intimate show, Gitano. He comes with eight of Spain’s best dancers, two ﬂamenco dancers, 17 musicians and eight ﬂamenco vocalists to excite fans. Tickets cost from RON 125 to RON 350. editorial@business-review.ro