FRENCH INVESTMENT: Christophe Lecourtier, general director of economic agency Ubifrance, tells BR that sluggish growth on Western markets is prompting companies to look for business opportunities in Romania »page 8
ROMANIA’S PREMIER BUSINESS WEEKLY
GOING OUT WHAT MAKES A RESTAURANT ROMANTIC? BR POPPED THE QUESTION TO SEVERAL HORECA EXPERTS AS THE INDUSTRY PREPARED FOR THE ST VALENTINE’S CELEBRATION »PAGE 12
FEBRUARY 17 - 23, 2014 / VOLUME 18, NUMBER 5
MONEY
Private healthcare services are entering a consolidation phase, with smaller clinics running the risk of insolvency, says Mihail Marcu, president of the board at MedLife »page 11
The Central Bank says the proposed reduction of repayment rates on bank loans was not its brainchild
» page 9
Photo: Mihai Constantineanu
SPECIALIZE TO SURVIVE
‘It wasn’t me’
NEWS 3
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
NEWS in brief AUTO Dacia drives Renault profit up 59 percent Renault, the third largest auto producer in Europe, registered an operational profit of EUR 1.24 billion in 2013, up 59 percent on the year before, generated by higher sales volumes and cost cutting, according to Mediafax. Earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items increased to EUR 1.24 billion, while revenue rose 0.5 percent to EUR 40.9 billion. The company forecast growth in sales and operating profit in 2014 and positive free cash flow at the car making unit. The carmaker’s global sales, including for the Dacia and Samsung brands, rose 3.1 percent last year to 2.63 million cars and light commercial vehicles.
BANKING Tax payments by card rise 36 percent to RON 133 mln in 2013, says Visa Visa Europe, the payments technology business, said Romanians were using their cards more frequently to pay their taxes, with electronic payments surging 31 percent to 372,000 last year. The firm, which is currently running its fifth annual card tax payments campaign in Romania, says the total value of tax payments by card increased last year by 36 percent to RON 133 million (EUR 30 million). The average transaction value of local taxes paid by card rose by 4 percent in 2013 to RON 358 (EUR 80). This was supported by a 38 percent hike in POS payments, according to data reported by Visa Europe’s member banks in Romania. All Visa cardholders who pay their local taxes between January 15 and March 31 will be entered in a competition offering total prizes amounting to over RON 130,000. In addition, the company has joined forces with member banks to organize for the second consecutive year a national competition for local tax payments by card, which is open to all municipalities accepting this payment option.
IT CallPoint powered by TELUS rebrands as TELUS International Europe CallPoint powered by TELUS, which
has operations in Romania, is being rebranded as TELUS International Europe. The company will be led by Xavier Marcenac. “Our team in Europe offers services in over 30 languages,” said Jeffrez Puritt, president of TELUS International. TELUS International Europe, a multilingual call-center and BPO (business process outsourcing) company, started its activity in 2004. The company has over 1,200 employees in its four centers, two in Romania (in Bucharest and Craiova), and two in Bulgaria (in Sofia and Plovdiv). The firm plans to expand the team this year and reach 4,000 employees by 2017. A provider of BPO and contact center solutions, in 2012 TELUS International purchased a stake in CallPoint New Europe, marking its entry onto the European market. Following this transaction, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Global Finance ceased to be shareholders in CallPoint. TELUS International, the international division of TELUS Canada Corporation, became the new majority shareholder in the company.
FINANCING EIB lends EUR 15 million to BCR Leasing for SMEs The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a EUR 15 million loan to BCR Leasing to allow the latter to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), midcap companies and public entities in Romania implementing projects in industry, services and infrastructure. BCR Leasing, part of BCR Group, which is majority-owned by Erste Group, is signing a first tranche of EUR 15 million from a total credit line of EUR 75 million agreed with the EIB. In particular, SMEs will be helped to purchase, renovate or extend tangible assets (other than land), invest in R&D, build up distribution networks in domestic or other markets within the EU and cover medium- and long-term working capital needs to finance their regular trading cycle. Public sector entities undertaking small- and medium-scale infrastructure or sustainable community investments will be eligible for support towards improving public services in the fields of transport, energy, waste, telecommunications, water, health, education and social housing.
WEEK in numbers
INSURANCE
EUR 5.7 bln
Omniasig VIG in EUR 12 mln share capital increase
the value of Romania’s trade deficit in 2013, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS). The deficit decreased from EUR 9.6 billion in 2012, mainly due to the recovery of exports
Omniasig VIG announced last week a RON 53.1 million (EUR 12 million) expansion of its share capital to RON 439.4 million (EUR 983 million), in a move approved by shareholders in October 2013. The insurer said the capital expansion was designed to sustain its operations and position in Romania, while underscoring the “trust” of Austria’s Vienna Insurance Group, which owns the firm, in Omniasig’s development strategy. The Austrian group saw an 18.5 percent reduction in gross written premiums to EUR 374 million in Romania last year. Aside from Omniasig, in Romania the insurer controls Asirom and BCR Asigurari de Viata.
MACRO PwC: local economy has made ‘remarkable’ progress since 2000 The economies of CEE-based countries such as Romania and Poland have developed extensively since 2000, while advanced economies have generally fallen back since the start of the crisis, according to new research by the professional services firm PwC. Romania has climbed 13 positions since 2000 to 24th in PwC’s ESCAPE index, which gauges a wide array of factors crucial for business, including political, legal and regulatory institutions and economic growth. Between 2007 and 2012, the country gained three positions in the same index.
STOCK EXCHANGE BSE net profit up 10.9 percent in 2013 The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) ended 2013 with a turnover of RON 24.3 million, up 40 percent from last year. Preliminary net profit rose to RON 10 million (EUR 2.1 million) in 2013, up 10.9 percent from RON 9 million the previous year, the company announced. Public offers for 15 percent of Transgaz, 10 percent of Nuclearelectrica and 15 percent of Romgaz played a big part in the increase in business, mobilizing foreign investment funds and local retail investors, according to BSE officials. The company reported a preliminary operational profit of RON 8.4 million,
10% the growth of exports year-on-year to an all-time high of EUR 49.6 billion, fueled by an increase in deliveries to other European Union countries, which account for 70 percent of Romania’s exports up 106 percent from last year. Financial profit fell by 46.4 percent from RON 3.2 million to 2012, based on the decline of interest rates and dividends, the main sources of income. Dividends dropped 80 percent compared to last year. The BSE closed the year with an advance of 47.5 percent for capitalization, taking the total to EUR 17.8 billion, based on increased prices for listed companies and on the listings of Nuclearelectrica and Romgaz, which together added EUR 3.64 billion to its capital. According to BSE statistics, the value of transactions rose to RON 12.99 billion, a 42.7 percent increase, and the average value of a transaction stood at RON 51.8 million, a 42.1 percent gain. The BSE also reports that it is now the second most valuable stock exchange in Central and Eastern Europe, based on the value of transactions in the first trimester of 2013.
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4 NEWS
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
IT
NOD enters smartphone market, aims for tablet leadership N
etwork One Distribution (NOD) has announced its arrival on the smartphone market with the launch of two devices – the Serioux Symbiosis X4 phablet and the Serioux Whisper X2 smartphone – which will sell at the recommended prices of RON 999 and RON 699, respectively. The two new models will hit the shelves of Romanian retailers soon. By yearend, NOD plans to launch eight other smartphone models. In total, the company expects to have sold 100,000 smartphones by yearend, planning to reach a 5 percent share on the smartphone market. “To reach 100,000 units, you have to fulfill various needs of consumers and touch different price ranges, which is why our next smartphones will go below the RON 699 and above the RON 1,400 price points,” said Oana Barbu, commercial director at NOD. NOD also sells tablets under the Se-
Oana Barbu, commercial director of NOD
rioux brand. While last year, tablet sales numbered 110,000 units, this year NOD is aiming to sell 200,000 items.
In 2013, products sold under the Serioux brand brought the firm sales of EUR 11 million. In 2014, the company estimates the brand will generate total sales of EUR 20 million. “This year, we are consolidating the Serioux position on the Romanian market by developing the tablet range, which is our main priority, but also by launching the first phablet and smartphone in our portfolio,” says Barbu. NOD officials estimate total tablet sales in Romania reached approximately 600,000 units in 2013. “After increasing threefold last year, we estimate that tablet sales will amount to 1 million units in 2014, representing more than 80 percent growth compared to 2013. Given this and taking into account the number of units already sold locally and the outlook for this year, we estimate that one in ten Romanians will own a tablet at the end of 2014,” said Barbu. NOD estimates that total smartphone
sales in Romania will also spike by 30 percent this year to 2 million units. “While we do not yet have the final indicators, we estimate the total turnover of NOD in 2013 was approximately EUR 200 million,” said Barbu. NOD brands represented approximately 15 percent of the company’s turnover. NOD is fully owned by Iulian Stanciu, and is both a distributor of electro-IT products and launches products under its own brands: Serioux, Horizon and HEINNER. The company has operations in Romania and the Republic of Moldova via 3,000 partners and is a supplier to major local retail networks. “Sales abroad are not yet very high and the results of our brands are mainly based on sales in Romania. We have focused mainly on developing the products and not on going abroad too much,” said Barbu. ∫ Otilia Haraga
PROPERTY
New SSCs and BPOs to further boost Bucharest office market in 2014, says JLL
T
he Bucharest office market is projected to continue growing in 2014, fuelled by newcomers in the IT industry, SSCs (shared service centers) and BPOs (business process outsourcing) and the expansion of existing players from the same sectors, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Romania representatives. In 2013 too, demand for office space came from new entrants on the market – mainly IT companies – as well as existing players relocating additional operations from other countries to Bucharest, said JLL representatives. That year, new office supply increased 2.5 times and both gross and net take-up went up compared to 2012, according to a recent JLL report. Above EU average economic growth rates, a cheaper workforce and competitive office space in terms of quality and price now make Bucharest an attractive regional destination for SSCs and BPOs and several large international companies are considering coming to Romania, according to JLL. Bucharest is competing against secondary and tertiary cities in Poland by offering lower work costs, said Marius Scuta, head of the office department & tenant representation with the real estate service firm.
Bucharest work costs are as much as three times lower than those in Prague, he added. Moreover, in 2014 Bucharest could see office transactions involving international investment funds. “Romania is now on the radar after about two or three years of not being there. We hope to see transactions made by new players this year,” said Gijs Klomp, managing director and head of capital markets at JLL Romania.
Take-up on the rise Net take-up is expected to further increase in 2014 after rising by 65 percent y-o-y last year. The overall vacancy in Bucharest should decrease to a level closer to 12-13 percent until the end of 2014. Some temporary increase in vacancies, however, could be possible in the first part of the year given the large number of office buildings to be delivered then. By comparison, JLL estimates the overall vacancy rate in Bucharest in 2013 at 14.4 percent, but with considerable differences between submarkets. Prime headline rents remained unchanged at EUR 18.5/sqm/month in 2013. One characteristic was the widening gap between headline rents and net effective rents as overall incentive packages went
Bucharest office market Completions (sqm) Total stock (mln. sqm) Vacancy rate Gross take-up (sqm) Net take-up Prime headline rent (EUR/sqm/month) Prime yields (%)
2013
y-o-y %
12 mnth outlook
119,000 2.08 14.4 (Q4) 293,000 150,000 18.5 (Q4)
+143 +6 -1.6 +20 +65 -
increase increase decrease increase increase stable
8.25 (Q4)
-
stable
Source: Jones Lang LaSalle Romania up. This should start to change in 2014, at least in the central business district, predicts JLL. Overall, rents are expected to remain stable in 2014. However, in downtown Bucharest, JLL forecasts that effective rents will begin to show the first signs of increase in the second semester of 2014, while remaining under pressure in most other submarkets. Bucharest will continue to be a tenant’s market, at least in the first half of 2014.
Center-west Bucharest to be new hotspot The central business district, the cen-
ter-north part of Bucharest, the Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu corridor, Dimitrie Pompeiu and the center-west part of the city are the most active office submarkets in Bucharest at present, according to JLL. The latter has the potential to experience further expansion and will see several land transactions this year and the start of some developments for which developers had previously bought land. Overall, some 120,000-140,000 sqm of new office space could be delivered in 2014, estimated JLL. ∫ Simona Bazavan
NEWS 5
www.business-review.ro Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
INSOLVENCY
Local firms ‘delaying insolvency decision’, says CITR by 10 percent to 110 specialists and reached 40 insolvency practitioners. CITR said it distributed EUR 62 million to creditors last year, accounting for 30 percent of the overall table of creditors in procedures that included distributions. Through the administered insolvencies, the company manages over 10,000 employees and assets worth EUR 500 million. The liquidator has been able to hike sales on insolvent real estate projects. For instance, around 62 percent of the apartments in the Alia Apartments Bucharest residential project have been sold since the start of the insolvency, at EUR 228,500 per unit. Meanwhile, the Mao Life Residence project in Cluj, has registered a fivefold increase in sales during the insolvency stage. For this year, Cionca reckons some of the most vulnerable sectors to insolvency are food production, office and retail leasing and infrastructure construction. He told BR that the renewable sector Andrei Cionca, founding associate of Casa de Insolventa Transilvania does not run the risk of insolvency, after the government deferred last summer nsolvency administrator Casa de pitched ahead of their potential some green certificates for producers, Insolventa Transilvania (CITR) saw entry into insolvency, only one third which should be recovered in the 2017a 16 percent rise in turnover to EUR actually went into administration. In 2020 period. According to CITR research, close to 7.6 million last year, supported by an our opinion, two thirds (e.n. of the companies) did not find a structural solution half of the medium and large companies expansion in its portfolio of clients. The company began work on 109 and are only delaying this decision,” that have gone into administration in new insolvencies and completed 49 pro- Andrei Cionca, founding associate of the past two years were over indebted. cedures, working on a total of 350 pro- the firm, told BR. He suggested that Management mistakes and the drop in additional growth could come from domestic consumption were other causcedures at the start of this year. “We expect to further grow this year, banks, which have a lot of projects in es identified by the company in the because we are carefully watching the which the insolvency decision has been analysis carried out on its portfolio of clients. ∫ evolution of the market and last year, delayed. Ovidiu Posirca The company increased its headcount out of all the companies to which we
I
TAX
Government revives progressive taxation initiative
T
he government aims to scrap the 16 percent flat tax and replace it with a three-tier taxation system, according to the budget-fiscal strategy for 2014-2016, published by the Ministry of Finance. According to the government, the progressive tax will apply to wages with fiscal deductibilities at rates of 8 percent, 12 percent and 16 percent, depending on the level of the wage. “It is the government’s intention to implement it, provided that budgetary conditions allow it, to reduce the taxation especially on the labor force. We all know there is a problem, which has been signaled by all entrepreneurs, that this taxation is excessive in Romania,”
said Dan Manolescu, state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, during the Romanian Business Leaders Summit organized last week in Bucharest. “We have a 16 percent flat tax but there are also other aspects regarding the taxation of the labor force, such as the capping system, the deduction system, and social contributions, which make this taxation excessive and this measure is proposed for analysis.” Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the flat tax rate would remain unchanged for companies and that the lower rates should apply to low earners. Dragos Anastasiu, president of Eurolines, the transport and tourism group, commented that this move should in
theory support an increase in domestic consumption. “The only matter is to be predictable because all measures approved overnight are aberrant,” he told BR. He said this measure should be implemented next year and in a predictable manner. According to the strategy, the government should also roll out a 5 percent reduction in social security contributions from July 2014. Klaus Iohannis, first-vice president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), warned that the progressive tax system could lead to a loss of several billions of RON in uncollected funds for the state budget. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca
WEEK AHEAD 17 February Fireside Chat: Exploring New Tech to Grow your Startup with Tim O’Brien Tim O’Brien, general manager, apps & platform group at Microsoft, will speak at Techhub’s Fireside Chat (16:00) about new technology available for startup owners. Before joining Microsoft in 2013, O’Brien worked in engineering, marketing and consultancy, both for startups and Fortune 500 companies. He has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry. Attendance is free pending registration on the Techhub website.
February 20 Seminar: Regulating the Delivery of Goods in International Commerce The Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will hold a special seminar presenting the new Incoterms 2010 regulations and their impact on international commerce. The director of the Romanian Banking Institute, Gabriela Hartescu, will host the event at the National Chamber Palace (Octavian Goga Blvd 2.).
February 21-23 Targul Miresei 2014 / Wedding Fair 2014 If you hear wedding bells, don’t panic! The biggest wedding and bridal fair in Romania is due to take place at Romexpo. Hundreds of exhibitors will fill the central pavilion with dresses, wedding rings and floral arrangements. Tickets are priced at RON 17.50.
February 25 Business Breakfast: The New Fiscal Code 08.30 The British Romanian Chamber of Commerce will have its first 2014 business breakfast briefing at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Bucharest, Primavera Room. The topics covered will be changes in the Fiscal Code for 2014 (direct and indirect tax, SME issues and other issues such as limits on cash withdrawals).
The Fiscal Code will come under discussion this month
6 INTERVIEW
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
Private health enters consolidation period Mihail Marcu, president of the board at MedLife, the private healthcare services provider, says concerns surrounding the brain drain in the medical field are exaggerated and that smaller clinics providing a full array of services are now facing insolvency. He believes the local market, worth EUR 350 million, is starting to consolidate, and that the entry bar is getting higher for newcomers. The company is set to invest around EUR 4 million in opening four new clinics across the country this year. ∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA
Does MedLife aim to acquire well-established clinics in the market? At the moment, we do not consider this opportune, but nor do we rule it out. There is no established plan to buy a clinic. As we are planning to (e.n. further) develop outside Bucharest, there are no clinics comparable to ours. Is there room for new players in the local market? We are a young market if we look at the figures, but at the same time we are seeing a concentration of the busi-
CV Mihail Marcu Marcu is currently president of the board of directors at MedLife. He was previously CEO of MedLife, and vicepresident and corporate department manager at RoBank. He graduated from the Mathematics Faculty of Bucharest University in 1995. He has completed courses in corporate management, human resources and financial management in various institutions, including DC Gardner London and the Romanian Banking Institute.
Courtesy of MedLife
Are you grappling with an exodus of doctors? This is a false problem. We will have an issue in 10-15 years because the students have left, not the physicians. A physician usually reaches peak performance at around 40, but they have family and kids and did not leave. The problem has been that the high flyers within the student ranks have left, and this will be felt in the next 10 years. The generation reaching 40 in the next 10 years has some gaps, but this is not a liability at present. In addition, physicians going abroad and becoming famous surgeons – this is just a story. Many of the local doctors who emigrate work in rural areas abroad. In the meantime, many have said they want to come back. I am not referring to the young ones. The top physicians in Romania have not gone abroad – maybe a few, but not enough for it to be a liability. We do not face any issue with medics wanting to emigrate. At one time a lot of doctors were leaving but this is no longer happening. Furthermore, physicians are not that well paid abroad. In the US, the UK and maybe in France the pay is higher, but in Austria and Germany, the wages are comparable to the private system in Romania. At present we have 1,300 physicians and we plan to hire another 200 this year.
ness, with the market starting to consolidate, and the entry bar is getting higher. A lot of hospitals and clinics that were opened in the past few years are now in insolvency, or are facing the prospect. Why are these private players going into administration? Generally, they focused on hospital units. Hospitals are dependent on contracts with the National Healthcare Insurance House (CNAS) or having a very big pipeline of patients. MedLife has a lot of subscribers and patients paying cash, and is in a leading position so has the capacity to attract patients. There are, however, a
lot of medium-sized clinics, which, if they did not specialize and attempted to provide general services, have lost the fight with large players in the past year or two. Do you expect new insolvencies this year? It will be a notable year from this point of view. We are talking about players in the second league, with a turnover below EUR 5 million. What is the size of the private healthcare market? If we look at the private healthcare services market paid from private money, it stands at around EUR 300350 million. If we look at the overall
market, including state reimbursements, we are talking about another EUR 200-300 million. This includes some of the main services paid for by the state such as dialysis and chemotherapy. Our turnover amounted to EUR 73 million last year, of which around 5 percent was generated in relation to the state. Our share in the private market stands at over 20 percent. What are the main challenges of the private healthcare system? Fiscal unpredictability, with changes happening overnight, the lack of transparency of the public system and the public system’s resistance to change. For instance, Turkey has reached its current position in the medical field with state funding. Let us not imagine everything happened overnight and that they are smarter. Ten years ago, a physician was proud of having graduated from medical school in Romania, and they have gained a lot of knowhow from us. In Turkey, private hospitals have received a lot of funds. Large groups such as Acibadem and Anadolu have huge revenues from the Turkish state. The same goes for AKH Hospital in Austria, which is subsidized by the state.
INTERVIEW 7
www.business-review.ro Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014 Can the private healthcare system in Romania handle complex cases? Absolutely, without any doubt. Often – and more frequently – it handles more complex cases than the state. There are hospitals in Romania that have very good results in this area, and I am not referring only to MedLife. Do you have foreign patients coming to Romania for treatment? Is this a trend in the market? I would say there are a few cases. We have demand in certain fields, such as genetics and in vitro fertilization. For surgery, it happens only if they have problems here; we do not have people getting on a plane to come here for surgery. We are starting to see more coming in for dentistry services. This is an area that can probably be looked into more thoroughly going forward. We have clients only from Western Europe. Do you bring foreign specialists to work in your clinics? We are bringing several professors from AKH Vienna, from Belgium, in the surgery field, but this is not a major trend. We have our own top surgeons doing a very good job. What can you tell me about the commission within the Ministry of Health that allocates the distribution of public funds in the private market? There is a commission but nobody knows who its members are because this has never been announced. There is a complex norm which states how funding is funneled towards private hospitals and how it is not. The fine print says that exceptions can be made by the joint commission of the CNAS and Ministry of Health. There are multiple exceptions. I often do not know how it happens but MedLife is always outside the exceptions. Many private players received this funding, but the thing is that some of those that were granted this funding are close to closing down their operations. We do not know anything about this commission; it is a twilight zone. They are granting funds to private players so as to provide healthcare services to insured patients. How can we move from cash payment to private healthcare insurance in the private sector? Who should take this initiative? Nobody should get involved because neither the Poles, the Czechs nor the Hungarians were able to do it. No market that is a former member of the Communist bloc has significant volumes of voluntary private healthcare insurance. The historical mentality is that you do not need private healthcare insurance. I reckon we might change this in the next 20 years. I do not believe in private healthcare insurance, only if the provision of public healthcare services is massively cut.
Do you think the roll out of a basic package of public healthcare services is a start? The services need to be clearly defined. When I say massive, I am referring to the fact that a patient with state insurance would expect to wait seven to ten months for surgery. Is the private healthcare system grappling with corruption? Studies show that a small proportion of Romanian patients have made informal payments in the private system. But the same happens in Germany, so let us not imagine that the private sector in Romania is different from the private sector in Western Europe. If a doctor wants to take money, it will happen. I guarantee that informal payments can be made to doctors abroad. Of course, as in the local private sector, this is not an extensive practice. One case out of 1,000. We have statistics at our company, which show that informal payments are well below 1 percent. Probably we are talking about one or two cases out of 1,000. These are marginal, similar to Western Europe. What are your business expectations this year? We aim to bring the EBITDA to around EUR 12 million this year and will grow in line with the business. We expect double-digit turnover growth. We have been growing organically, by expanding our market share for years, and the dynamics show this. For this year, MedLife estimates an operational profit of EUR 12 million and a turnover ranging between EUR 81- 83 million, depending on the macro-economic development, and the reimbursements from CNAS.The new clinics play their own role, but it is marginal in the first year, especially because they have reported a negative EBITDA in the first year. This year we plan to open four new clinics. By summer, we will have new clinics in Galati and Iasi, and by the end of this year, we will open facilities in Cluj and Constanta. They will require roughly EUR 4 million in new investment, at about EUR 1 million each. These buildings are leased and most of the money will go on equipment. How many subscribers does MedLife have right now? We have around 4,500 corporate clients right now, and 2 million patients paying by cash in our clinics. We will grow further this year. We do not plan to hike prices but increase the number of services. What can you tell me about the average MedLife patient? In Bucharest, their average income is higher than for the rest of the country, but the average household income stands at around EUR 1,000. ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro
8 FRENCH INVESTMENTS
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
SMEs to lead new wave of French investors Business opportunities in infrastructure, automotive, agro-food and healthcare were the main interests of the 80 French companies that came to Bucharest last week as part of a Ubifrance regional economic forum. In response to sluggish economic growth on Western markets, many French companies – and SMEs in particular – are now looking east for business opportunities and Romania is on their radar. What’s the focus?
∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN Some 1,600 business-to-business meetings between French companies interested in doing business in the region – and in Romania in particular – and local firms were held last week in Bucharest as part of the France-Eastern Europe economic forum organized by the Ubifrance economic agency. The event should start bearing fruit by yearend with about 30 new French firms expected to start operations in the region, say organizers. France is already Romania’s fourth largest trading partner and the third largest investor in the country, with a EUR 7.2 million stock of FDI. Some 38 of the 40 largest French companies have set up local operations over the past 20 years, Christophe Lecourtier, general director of Ubifrance, told BR. Moreover, players such as Renault have a strong say in the local economy, measurable through their share in the GDP and the country’s annual exports. Over recent years, giants such as Lafarge, Saint-Gobain, Michelin and Orange have continued to invest lo-
French connections: high-level business representatives were in Bucharest
cally, but there have been very few newcomers, Philippe Garcia, director of the economic mission at Ubifrance Romania, told BR. This is about to change, as there is renewed interest in the local economy and French companies have Romania on their radar once again. However, this time around, it will mostly be small and medium-sized companies that will
lead the wave. Sluggish growth on Western markets is now making such companies look east for business opportunities, where Poland and Romania are the main destinations. These are competitive firms “that can cope with the needs of the Romanian economy” and that would bring about a more honed dimension to Romanian economic growth, said Lecourtier.
Poor local infrastructure casts doubt on Renault future
R
omania’s lack of road connections with Europe may see French carmaker Renault scrap its assembly line at the Dacia plant in Mioveni, Pitesti, warned President Traian Basescu last week. “Romania, if it does not fully connect with the Pan-European Corridor IV to European road system, is a country that will remain far behind. It is certain that the assembly line at Pitesti, at the Dacia plant, will be lost, because already in Tangier there are existing replacement capacities,” said the president in an appearance at Look TV. Renault opened a plant in the Moroccan city in 2012. Dacia makes engines, gearboxes and chassis at the Pitesti platform, where it also operates an aluminum foundry. Prime Minister Victor Ponta described the president’s statement as “foolish”. “The president of the Renault group was recently in Romania and clearly stated that investments in Romania are developing,” said the PM, quoted by Agerpres newswire. Constantin Stroe, vice-president at
Dacia, said it costs EUR 98 to transport built before 2020. Renault, which is the biggest exa vehicle from Mioveni to the Constanta port, while in Morocco it costs EUR 14 porter in Romania, has said in a stateto transport the same vehicle to a nearby ment that it has invested over EUR 2 port, according to news station Digi 24. billion in the country to modernize The corridor has been replaced by its industrial assets, develop its range the Trans-European Transport Networks of products and create a full car pro(TEN-T), a major project pursued by the duction chain. The carmaker said, European Commission in a bid to de- “The evolution of infrastructure, which allows the reduction of delivery delays, velop Europe’s infrastructure. According to media reports, the Sibiu- will determine our future projects.” Meanwhile, the French AmbassaPitesti section of highway, part of the TEN-T seventh priority project, is key dor to Bucharest, Philippe Gustin, unfor the carmaker. The EU would support derlined that a plant similar to the 85 percent of the construction costs of one in Pitesti needs faster links, espethe highway linking western Romania cially by road, with Western Europe. “Each day of delay in delivering cars to the Constanta Port. However, infrastructure minister Dan is a disadvantage for companies’ comSova said this road project would be petitiveness,” said Gustin, last week, dropped as it would cost at least EUR during the France/Southeastern Eu3.2 billion to build. He suggested the rope Forum, quoted by Mediafax country build a highway from Sibiu to newswire. “If they believe this is how they can Brasov, which would cost a maximum of EUR 900 million. According to Digi develop, it is their policy, and we are 24, Brasov does not feature as the linking in a different environment. It is imcity between Sibiu and Bucharest as portant for them to develop on emerging markets,” commented the ambaspart of the TEN-T project. Stroe said the Pitesti-Sibiu highway sador. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca was of major interest and should be
Infrastructure and professional development were two of the main areas of interest for French companies, both from the perspective of issues that need to be addressed and as potential business opportunities, commented Philippe Gustin, the French ambassador to Bucharest. Overall, some 400 companies from 14 countries were present at the event, of which 80 were French. The main areas of interest were infrastructure and the automotive industry, agrofood and health, according to Garcia. In the automotive sector alone, between 30 and 40 new French firms are expected to set up local operations this year and the next as suppliers to Renault, he said. Another 15 companies came to Bucharest looking to sign deals with local retailers for the export of food products, and 20 companies, including firms from Morocco, are interested in the local health sector. “Among the French companies that are coming, we expect at least 60 to 70 percent concretization of business plans over the next six months,” said Garcia, adding that newcomers to Romania are pleasantly surprised by what they discover. “When they return to France they are probably the best ambassadors of Romania as a place to come to either to do business or as a tourist,” he added.
Why the renewed interest? Economic growth has been stagnating in France for around eight years, a situation that the country has not had to deal with since the 30s, said Lecourtier. Growth has been sluggish throughout Western Europe too, pushing French companies to look east for growth or to emerging markets outside the continent. The Romanian economy, on the other hand, boasts above EU average growth and the size of the market and its workforce also make it attractive as a hub for French expansion in the region, he added. This year Ubifrance will hold similar economic forums to the one held in Bucharest last week only in Morocco and Brazil. One was held in December in South Africa, which goes to show what is economically attractive to French companies right now, stressed Lecourtier. “We have to look east, and when we look east we see Romania as the main pillar of such a strategy,” he added. simona.bazavan@business-review.ro
MONEY 9
www.business-review.ro Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
FINANCE
Central bank rejects authorship of proposed loan rescheduling scheme The National Bank of Romania (BNR) announced last week that it had been consulted on a scheme designed to cut repayment rates for over 900,000 individuals, and had provided statistical data and evaluations, but denied the scheme had been drawn up by its specialists. ∫ OVIDIU POSIRCA The government’s intention to lower individual borrowers’ loan repayments has put the future of the EUR 4 billion stand-by agreement with international lenders on the line, after President Traian Basescu said he would not sign the letter of intent with the IMF, if this provision along with a new fuel excise tax were not scrapped. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the agreement with international institutions is “in a somewhat suspended state” after the president told him he would not sign the agreement with the IMF. Speaking on B1 TV last week, the president said that the IMF mission to Bucharest was wrong to have accepted the scheme, and that the institution had not been previously briefed on the measure. “Electorata (e.n. a term coined to describe the repayment facility by combining the words for elections and bank rates) is a fake because people will pay more, as the interest payments are not taken into account and the reimbursement term is prolonged. In effect, all Romanians will eventually have to pay for those that cannot meet their repayment deadlines,” said President Basescu, quoted by news portal www.hotnews.ro. “I want the National Bank of Romania (BNR) to immediately drop the practice of being controlled by a corrupt government.” He added that the idea of lowering the loan repayments came from the BNR, an allegation that was rejected by the central bank in a statement. “The program to stimulate consumption through fiscal measures (which facilitates a rescheduling of bank loan repayments for the next two years for individuals with income below the medium wage) has not involved and will not involve, from the side of the BNR, any kind of monetary or banking decision,” said the central bank. The BNR added that the scheme was the brainchild of Liviu Voinea, the delegate budget minister, pointing to an article by the minister that was posted on a Financial Times blog. In the blog, Voinea says the country is set to offer an income tax credit of up to EUR 45 a month in 2016 and 2017 for low- to middle-income borrowers to reschedule their loan repayments. This would pay half of their debt service
Lending a hand? Individuals’ loan repayments may fall due to the scheme
charges in the next two years, provided the measure is implemented in April, as announced by the government. “This would allow heavily indebted low- to middle-income households to escape the debt trap, supporting economic growth,” wrote the minister. The current structure of the draft bill requires individuals to negotiate the terms of the scheme with their banks. In addition, the scheme is optional for borrowers and lenders. These measures have been backed by experts at the BNR. The banking watchdog has been involved in discussions with teams from the Ministry of Finance, IMF, European Commission and World Bank.
Banker says scheme has caveats Steven van Groningen, president of Raiffeisen Bank, called into question the scheme’s impact on the state budget, which would have to be paid by taxpayers. “If I understood right, this is a measure that would allow customers to have a lower repayment rate for a certain period of time, which would be offset by a bigger repayment rate in the future. The higher rate would be compensated by some fiscal measure,” he told reporters last week. “As a taxpayer, my first question is, okay, this means that part of the state budget from the future is used in advance to say that we are not enforcing a fiscal obligation at this moment, to allow customers with certain bank loans to pay less on the short term if they want to,” he added. van Groningen says customers already have the option to negotiate a restructuring program with their banks, provided that certain criteria are met. He said that a customer enrolling in this system may either have to make repay-
ments for longer or make a higher repayment on the bank loan. Dragos Anastasiu, president of Eurolines, the transport and tourism group, told BR the reduction of repayment rates represents an “inequity” from what he has read about it. “The intention is good but I think an impact study needs to be done, and maybe they are doing it.” He suggested this study be done by an independent expert. Although representatives of the government have stated that the repayment scheme should also help banks by stopping the formation of new bad loans, aside from propping up consumption, it may include additional risk for lenders. “The reduction of repayment rates is in principle a good measure for the economy in itself. The only issue may emerge if banks do not have a greater risk issue than it may appear at first sight,” Mihail Marcu, president of Romanian Business Leaders, an association supporting projects in education, entrepreneurship and governance, told BR. “Usually, loans that have a grace period have a higher default rate than those that do not have this period,” stated Marcu, who has worked in the banking sector for a decade. Nonetheless, he says the measure should be good for the economy as more money will be funneled towards consumption. According to PM Ponta, some EUR 900 million should move from the banking system into the economy, if all eligible individuals enroll in the scheme. “Everybody stands to gain from this measure. It will boost the economy to such a rate that even those paying for this measure will have more money at the end of the day. This is a measure with a strong impact in terms of boosting the economy,” says Marcu. He added that the economy may grow by 5 percent in 2014, provided this measure is implemented this year. Marcu commented that one measure with farreaching effects on the economy would be the reduction of the social security contributions paid by companies, because this would also support the labor market. Mihai Bogza, president of the Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC), declined to comment on the scheme, claiming he did not have enough information on the initiative. ovidiu.posirca@business-review.ro
BRD posts RON 385 mln net loss in 2013 Romania’s second largest bank, BRD, controlled by France’s Societe Generale, posted a 2013 net loss of RON 385 million, officials said on Wednesday. The total loss doubled to RON 648 million on account of higher provisions, partly compensated by the income from deferred tax, which rose to RON 263 million in 2013, from around RON 47.2 million the previous year, writes Mediafax. “The consolidation of covering nonperforming loans with provisions led to the net result,” BRD said in a statement. Outstanding gross loans to individuals reached RON 17.2 billion, while demand for corporate loans shrank, triggering a 12.5 percent decline in gross volume to RON 16.3 billion. The bank said deposits registered a significant increase (12.8 percent, versus 7.4 percent for the market), so that the net loans-to-deposits ratio improved to 76.8 percent at the end of 2013. This is the second year in a row that BRD has posted a negative result.
Garanti Group 2013 net profit at EUR 27 mln on higher lending The net profit of Garanti Group Romania, owned by Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, reached EUR 27 million last year, driven by higher lending in the SME segment, said officials. The group saw its revenues gain 11 percent to EUR 118.6 million, supported by growth in all business lines. Its total assets rose 7.4 percent to
Ufuk Tandogan,CEO Garanti Group Romania
EUR 1.93 billion. Garanti Bank’s profits amounted to EUR 20.7 million, while the non-banking arms were also in the black. Garanti Consumer Finance had a profit of EUR 2.7 million, and the profit of Garanti Leasing and Garanti Mortgage amounted to EUR 3 million and EUR 600,000 respectively. The loan book gained 5.4 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.09 billion. Deposits rose by 42.3 percent in volume last year.
Banca Transilvania net profit rises to RON 375 mln in 2013 Banca Transilvania’s profit rose by 17 percent to RON 374.9 million (EUR83.7 million) in 2013, on higher revenue from lending. The fourth quarter of 2013 saw the bank grant 25,000 new loans, worth a total RON 3.2 billion, writes Mediafax. Overall for 2013, the bank reported a 9 percent increase in loans to RON 19.2 billion.
10 LINKS
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
Online channel hoping for new chapter on book market With the Romanian book market still below EUR 100 million, online book sales are estimated to represent at most 20 percent. The bad news does not stop here: data from publishers canvassed by Business Review reveal a grim reality regarding reading habits in Romania. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA That the average Romanian is not exactly a bookworm is no secret to anyone in the book publishing and distribution industry. “Romania is a country where people are reading less and less, although the National Institute of Statistics is lauding us with 10-12 minutes of reading every day among people older than 25. In Romania, people do not buy books because they do not read enough, since, unfortunately, education has lost from sight the mission of helping the pupil and the teen to become a reader at an adult age,” Mihai Mitrica, executive director at the Romanian Publishers Association, tells BR. Others are more optimistic. “With regards to the question ‘how much do Romanians read?’…you know the answer. But it is related to our standard of
living, which is not at all in line with the European level. Anyway, Romanians have potential in any field – reading is one of them – and after we beat the crisis, the numbers will definitely change,” Mihaela Petrovan, founder of the BookLand book fair and virtual book store, tells BR. The book market in Romania is not yet worth EUR 100 million, including titles sold at kiosks, Mitrica tells BR. Retail in book shops, fairs and independent book stands is estimated at 80-85 percent of the market, with a 15-20 percent share going to online sales, including distributors and the websites of the publishing houses, he says. Dan Vidrascu, CEO of elefant.ro, thinks that when comparing Romania to other nations, one should first look at the value of the markets. “In Romania, the book market hovers around EUR 50- Romanians need to catch up with their reading as statistics are not in their favor 60 million. In Hungary, for instance, it
BEST SOLD TITLES ONLINE elefant.ro Inferno by Dan Brown Fifty Shades of Grey Vol. 1 by EL James l Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro l Fifty Shades Darker Vol. 2 by EL James l Fifty Shades Freed Vol. 3 by EL James eMag l Inferno by Dan Brown l Limba engleza pentru clasa pregatitoare (English for Prep School) by Maria-Magdalena Nicolescu l The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien l Carte de rugaciuni Agapis (Agapis Prayer Book) l Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James LibHumanitas l De ce este România altfel? (Why is Romania Different) by Lucian Boia l Parabolele lui Iisus (Jesus’ Parables) by Andrei Plesu l Sfârșitul Occidentului (The End of the West) by Lucian Boia l Dragul meu turnător (My Dear Mole) by Gabriel Liiceanu l l
l Cele mai frumoase povestiri din Biblie (The Best Bible Stories) translation from Hebrew, Aramaic and Ancient Greek by Monica Brosteanu and Francisca Baltaceanu okian.ro l History of Britain and Ireland l Fault in Our Stars by John Green l A Song of Ice and Fire Box Set (A Game of Thrones: The Story Continues, all six books) by George RR Martin l The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome D Salinger l Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman book-land.ro l Exercitii de echilibru (Balance Exercises) by Tudor Chirila l L'Homme (nouveau) expliqué aux femmes (The New Man Explained to Women) by Gerard Leleu l Arab Cuisine by collective authors l Cantecele copilariei (Childhood Songs) by collective author l The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
is twice this size. In the UK, book sales says Vidrascu of the inception of Elein 2013 were approximately GBP 1.4 bil- fant.ro. In 2012, the book store diversilion,” he says. fied its offer with toys and in 2013 it He adds that reading is becoming added clothes, footwear and accessories less popular everywhere. “The down- to its offer. “Little by little, Elefant.ro ward global trend of the book market turned from an online book store into could be discerned in 2012 and 2013. In an online mall dedicated to the entire 2012, for instance, in the US, the market family,” he adds. declined by 9.3 percent, in Spain by a litTotal investments in the bookstore tle over 10 percent, in Italy by 7 percent, reach EUR 3 million. “Most of the inin the UK by 3.4 percent, and in South vestment went into the development of Korea by over 20 percent. In 2013, in the the company, including stocks, but esUK, the average decline on the book pecially the software platform which is market was 6.5 percent. The print mar- continually expanding, the operation ket shrank even more, by 9.8 percent. management systems, marketing and However, digital book sales partially acquisitions. We can now deliver anycompensated for this,” he comments. where in the world,” he says. Data from online payment processIn 2013, Elefant.ro posted a turnover ing company PayU show that the num- of EUR 6.5 million, which was mostly ber of online book transactions spiked generated by book and e-book sales. by 44 percent and the value of acquisi- “While we do not have very exact data at tions by 37 percent. Expectations for the moment, the rough split is about 80 2014 are that growth will be along the percent foreign titles and 20 percent Rosame lines as last year. “We are seeing manian titles,” said Vidrascu. greater interest from traders to consoliElefant.ro has over 3,000 e-books in date their online channels,” Manuela its range, most of them digitalized by its Stoica, marketing & PR executive PayU own digital book team with the comRomania, tells BR. High in Romanians’ pany’s investment. reading preferences come fiction, chilRetailer-of-all-things eMag started dren’s books, and more specialized ti- selling books on the eMag Marketplace tles in business, personal development, in 2011, but since then the company has psychology, history and science, ac- also launched books in Bulgaria as cording to experts canvassed by BR. well. “Book sales at eMag spiked by 90 perOnline players share their ‘no cent in 2013 compared to the previous year. The average value of the order is guts, no glory’ philosophy “At that point in 2010, Romanian e-com- RON 50-55,” says Lucia Ciuca, marketmerce needed a comprehensive online ing director at eMag. The average value of orders placed book store with a very rich offer and a customer-oriented commercial strategy,” on LibHumanitas is RON 85, with the
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www.business-review.ro Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
AVERAGE MONTHLY ONLINE BOOK ORDER l l l l l
LibHumanitas RON 85 eMag RON 55 elefant.ro RON 78+Vat okian.ro RON 120 book-land.ro RON 60
ONLINE BOOK TRANSACTIONS IN 2013 l
Growth of online book purchases: 44 percent l Growth of online book transaction value: 37 percent
*Source: PayU bookstore delivering both in Romania and abroad, and readers can choose from a range that also includes e-books and audio books. The broadest majority of books sold online (95 percent) are Romanian titles while the rest are foreign, says Alexandra Buruiana, coordinator LibHumanitas. At BookLand, the founders decided to open an online bookstore “out of passion and out of the desire to contribute. You cannot make ends meet from book sales. BookLand will only make profit
five to seven years from launch. At least we hope so!” says Petrovan. “The BookLand Caravan has cost over EUR 450,000 in over three years. The other costs, related to the e-commerce elefant.ro platform, the warehouse, the staff, the l Radu Beligan, Lucian Boia, Neagu promotion, double this figure. Some of Djuvara, Dan Puric, Andrei Plesu the costs were covered from book sale l Rhonda Byrne, EL James, Osho, commissions... but when we draw the line, there is still about EUR 500,000 to Dan Brown, Gabriel Garcia Marquez recover,” she comments. eMag Last year, BookLand sales (just l Dan Brown, JRR Tolkien, EL books) totaled EUR 270,000. Foreign tiJames, Brandon Bays, Cesar Millan tles represent 75 percent, with the exl Irina Binder, Mircea Eliade, Tudor ception of school manuals, while the other 25 percent are by Romanian conChirila, Ionel Teodoreanu, Liviu Retemporary writers, says Petrovan. breanu The average value of orders placed LibHumanitas on www.book-land.ro is RON 60. “This l Andrei Pleșu, Lucian Boia, is because in our first three years – to be able to offer our clients free delivery – Gabriel Liiceanu, Neagu Djuvara, we set the minimum order at RON 50. Dan C Mihăilescu, Mircea This year we are maintaining our offer – the minimum order will be at least RON 75 – to benefit from free delivery. language to the local market and this is Probably by the end of the year the av- why we opened okian.ro. Later, we exerage order will be RON 80,” says panded our offer to Romanian books and more recently, games and accesPetrovan. The bookstore promises a special sories,” Bogdan Colceriu, marketing project on e-books, which now repre- manager of Okian and project coordinasent under 1 percent of total sales. tor of okian.ro, tells BR. Apart from traditional books, In a more niche area, okian.ro representatives say at the beginning the com- okian.ro also sells 100,000 e-books, but pany was “a book importer with a major only English titles. The average value of background in Romania and we did not an order placed on okian.ro is RON 120. want to confine ourselves to strictly “This exceeds the average order placed selling in the academic environment. on the Romanian book market, preWe wanted to offer titles in the original cisely because English titles have higher
BEST SOLD AUTHORS ONLINE Cărtarescu l Stephen Hawking, Mo Yan, John Krakauer, Mario Vargas Llosa, Elizabeth Gilbert, JRR Tolkien okian.ro l John Green, George RR Martin, Malcolm Gladwell, Oliver Bowden, Jeff Kinney book-land.ro l Tudor Chirila, Herta Muller, Mihaela Radulescu, Octavian Paler, Marta Petreu l Frederic Beigbeder, F Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Bukowski, George RR Martin, Rhonda Byrne prices,” he comments. In 2013, okian.ro sales reached EUR 1.4 million. About 80 percent of the turnover was generated by English titles. “If we take into account the investment from the beginnings of okian.ro until today – including the online store, the warehouse, the ERP and many others, we are closing in on EUR 1 million,” he says. Last year, the okian.com website was launched, which delivers Romanian books to Romanians in the USA. otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
12 CITY
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
What makes a restaurant romantic? February is marketed as a romantic month, and in Romania couples have two occasions on which to celebrate love and romance, Valentine’s Day and Dragobete. BR asked players from the Horeca business and interior design specialists what “romantic” means. OANA VASILIU Canvassed by BR, Kevin Hill, corporate executive chef at City Grill Group, says that food is only part of the equation; it’s the whole experience for the couple that counts – and depending on the couple’s tastes there can be many variations. The stereotypical romantic dinner means candles, flowers, dim lighting and soft music, so mood management is extremely important in creating the “love is in the air” atmosphere. Stefan Ioan, manager, Fitto Cafe Floreasca, explains that the personal touch makes the difference. “When it comes to romantics, we are convinced that there is no magic recipe, just how much soul you put in”, added Ioan. To Julia Kristensen, owner, Casa Frumoasa, fine cuisine, Art Deco, comfort, music, intimacy, warmth, service and of course people who help you feel very special by their delicate attention are the special ingredients for a romantic restaurant. Something else to take into consideration is the client profile: if you are taking your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband or lover out, you want to say or share something special with them and impress on them just how much they mean to you. The food needs to match the environment the couple has chosen. Obviously aphrodisiacs may come to mind so oysters could be on the menu, and
‘The food needs to be light, shareable and allow some interaction for the couple: she feeds him, he feeds her, they look into each other’s eyes... love is in the air – you can’t do that on a full stomach’ Kevin Hill, corporate executive chef at City Grill Group
Everyone knows the clichés: long-stemmed roses, soft lighting, strolling violinists, sunset views, delectable cuisine, seductive wine lists and so on
fresh seafood in general is a real winner for most. However. For dessert, chocolate truffles are always a winner with most people, along with a good cocktail, adds Hill.
Talking about interior design Eduard Baicu, architect at Phenomena Laboratory, believes that the most important elements are the behavior or attitude of the staff and the aesthetic ambient display. Moreover, romance in design means the art of scenography which can be developed from the Rousseau quote, “If I am not better, at least I am different.” If you feel comfortable there, elements such as food, beverages and decor blend together, making you a happy customer who will come again. Nowadays, in architecture, a romantic setup can come courtesy of contemporary architects such as Fabio Novembre and Marcel Wanders, who give spaces a romantic, monumental sensibility that has redefined interior design at the international level. “The essence of a romantic restaurant is a story in which intimacy is achieved by the connection between a couple and infinity. The illusion of an ongoing
‘The scenography of the space is created by the contrast between the infinite that you contemplate and your own minimalist space. Romantic means hot, transparent spotlights, sinuous shapes, warm colors, the accent on details’ Alina Lazar, interior designer at Baraka Design space and open horizons scores your feelings in relation with the universe. The scenography of the space is created by the contrast between the infinite that you contemplate and your own minimalist space. Romantic means few ele-
ments, but well supported: hot, transparent spotlights, sinuous shapes, warm colors in contrast with the cold ones from the background, the accent on details. Blending these elements may take various forms such that a silk cloth in an industrial plant could become as romantic as two seats on an exotic beach,” Alina Lazar, interior designer at Baraka Design, told BR. But among the scented candles and beautifully crafted decor, among dinner settings with wine glasses for two, romance sparkles when your loved one smiles back at you, say Chic Ville officials, an opinion that we share. oana.vasiliu@business-review.ro
At international level, the top romantic restaurants awarded by publications are those owned by Alain Ducasse, with decor and sightseeing that take your breath away with the pictures alone. BR ran an online poll asking its readers, “What is your favorite romantic restaurant in Bucharest?” Check out the resulting list of the most romantic places at www.business-review.eu/going-out.
CITY 13
www.business-review.ro Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
FILM REVIEW
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Her
Simbio: brunches all day long
LA story: Joaquin Phoenix plays a lonely urbanite looking for love
DEBBIE STOWE Director: Spike Jonze Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Cotroceni VIP, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex, Hollywood Multiplex, Movieplex It’s a common sight these days: a group of people sitting around a table together, each with their nose buried in their smartphone, totally ignoring the others. This obsession with technology and overreliance on gadgets, this withdrawal from the real world to live life online – all of this is the premise for Her, Spike Jonze’s memorable and melancholy love story for our times. LA in a not too distant future. Lonely Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is looking for love. Realworld relationships are not going too well since the breakdown of his marriage to childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara), and his efforts to find gratification in anonymous phone sex are proving equally unrewarding. Theodore’s only human warmth comes from his college ex Amy (Amy Adams), herself in a bad marriage, and a geeky pal at the office where Theodore works composing “beautifully handwritten letters” to order online, a wry throwback to the pre-digital age. But that’s until he connects with Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), his new operating system, part of a generation of highly advanced and personalized OSes that as well as serving as a sort of virtual secretary also appear capable of human states and emotions, such as friendship, wonder and love. The early part of the film is concerned with depicting the techno-
world of the future. Jonze taps into several modern trends – the rise of single-person households, urban alienation, the shift of socializing online, the unstoppable march and increasing sophistication of connectivity. Although the film is categorized as sci-fi, its science fiction is close to science fact, with Theodore’s imagined LA little different from today’s Hong Kong, say, where the smartphone craze has taken greater hold. The story then moves on to follow Theodore and Samantha’s developing “relationship”, which his estranged wife sees as further proof of his fear of being with a real woman, while his equally lonely ex-girlfriend Amy urges him to go for it if it might make him happy. The creator falling in love with his (it is usually a man) creation (or a similar “unreal” woman) is a timeless theme, running from the Pygmalion myth to movies such as Mannequin (1987) and Ruby Sparks (2012). It invites us to question the nature of love: many liaisons begin online today, and long-distance relationships are often conducted largely in the virtual realm – is Theodore and Samantha’s connection so different? Known mainly for his breakthrough role as the treacherous and sadistic emperor in Gladiator, Phoenix could not be more different as the shy and lonely writer, and delivers an impressive, film-carrying performance (even if Theodore is a bit too likeable to be a fully believable character). Jonze advances the proceedings leisurely: the movie sags slightly towards the end and could perhaps have been a quarter of an hour shorter than its two hour plus runtime. But that’s a mere quibble – overall, Her is a pertinent and thought-provoking tale from the digital age. debbie.stowe@business-review.ro
A smoke-free environment and eclectic decor await diners at Simbio
If you are looking for a non-smoking place to chit-chat with your girlfriends while eating something fresh and healthy baked to order, this is almost the perfect spot. Serving mostly a variety of egg dishes for those who want to grab a bigger bite, from 10 am to the
middle of the night. In this tiny and welcoming space that combines eclectic decor with a sense of intimacy, allday breakfasts, tasty sandwiches, salads, as well as burgers and fries are to be tried, definitely with a fresh smoothie (from RON 11 to RON 14). In terms of small bites, I tried the bruschettas at a private event, but I wasn’t very impressed either by the taste or the appearance. But if the frittata is familiar to you, I can say I had the best frittata with spinach and cherry tomatoes (RON 13) here, served in three bites with leaves of mixed salad, butter and bread. For sweet lovers, The-Perfect-WayTo-End-a-Meal dessert is definitely the pear in spiced red wine with berry sauce (RON 11), but the muffins (RON 5) are also a good choice, especially when you are there only for tea (RON 9) or coffee (from RON 7 to RON 15). One of the drawbacks of this place is the lack of varieties of bread offered, although they serve brunches all day long. It is a place set up for parties of two to four people, which makes it a bit difficult to settle if you are in a larger group. Address: 18 Selari Street, 021 310 27 00. Oana Vasiliu
14 HUMAN RESOURCES
www.business-review.eu Business Review | February 17 - 23, 2014
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 Bogdan Albu is the new general manager of the local subsidiary of Polish brokerage firm XTB. He is replacing Tadeusz Kuropatwinski. Albu joined XTB Romania at the beginning of 2012 as head of sales. He has ten years of professional experiences in banking, capital markets, credit and debt restructuring. He has a master’s degree in financial management and capital markets from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. Kuropatwinski, whose term ended in December, joined XTB in 2009 as associate manager in Poland. The next year he was appointed deputy director of the Romanian subsidiary. In 2012 he was promoted to general manager.
of Psychology and Social Sciences and has a master’s degree in Organizational and Managerial Psychology from the University of Bucharest.
nia, Unilever – Knorr and Beiersdorf – Nivea. He graduated from the Management Faculty of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
Alexandru Munteanu
Dorin Pena
one of the most well-known sales managers on the local telecom market, has left his position at Cosmote to take over as head of Samsung’s local telecom division. Sorin Manea will take over the job of business division director within the same subsidiary. Munteanu has 15 years of sales experience and over 10 years in management of sales.
is the new country manager at Cisco Romania. He started his career in 2005 as a trainer with the Cisco Academy, part of CATC Romania. Between 2006 and 2007 he served as network specialist at Ness Technologies. He later was promoted to consulting network engineer. Between 2009 and 2010 Pena worked for Romtelecom and later returned to Cisco as account manager. Before being promoted to country manager he served as strategic account manager of the service providers division.
Adrian Nicolaescu
has been appointed marketing director at Mega Image. The responsibilities of this newly created position will be to define and implement marNicoleta Capata keting and communihas been promoted cation strategies as well as coordinate to human resources consumer communication and public director at Flanco. relations. Nicolaescu has over 15 years Capata started her of professional experience in marketcareer as HR reing and communication. Previously he cruitment officer at spent six years as marketing executive Flanco Retail in 2004. director with Caroli Foods Group. Other Five years later she companies for which he has worked became manager of the HR departover the years include Devin Bulgaria, ment. She graduated from the Faculty Red Bull Romania, Bulgaria and Alba-
Madalin Rugeanu has been appointed retail director at Flanco, coordinating the retailer’s sales strategy concerning the store, online and corporate aspects, as well as projects expanding and modernizing the Flanco retail chain. Rugeanu has worked for
Flanco for over eight years, starting off as sales consultant at Flanco Targu Jiu and later being promoted to marketing specialist and then project manager. Since 2010, he has worked as property & development manager, negotiating rental contracts for spaces and being in charge of store expansion. He graduated from the Constantin Brancusi University’s Faculty of Automatics and Industrial Informatics in Targu Jiu.
Stefan Slavnicu 36, has taken over the position of chief technology officer (CTO) at telecom operator Orange Romania, effective this month. Slavnicu has spent 14 years at the company and has significant expertise in the technical department. After joining the team in 2000, he worked in positions such as network expert and core network manager. In 2011 he was appointed head of infrastructure expansion. Slavnicu graduated from an EMBA program from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. He also pursued a PhD in Telecommunications at the Bucharest Polytechnic University.
Proposal of Iohannis for vice-premier stirs USL tensions Tensions within the ruling Social Liberal Union (USL) coalition increased towards the end of last week and threatened its dissolution, after the National Liberal Party (PNL) nominated Klaus Iohannis for the vice-premier position and alliance leaders failed to reach a consensus on the number of vice-premiers the cabinet should have. The PNL had previously nominated Iohannis, mayor of Sibiu, as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and deputy prime minister. He is to replace Radu Stroe who resigned in January. In addition to this, Teodor Atanasiu was proposed to replace Andrei Gerea at
the Ministry of Economy, Eugen Nicolaescu should become minister of finance, replacing Daniel Chitoiu, while Cristian Busoi is due to assume the role of minister of health in Nicolaescu’s stead. While the nominations were made two weeks ago, by the end of last week the three ministries still had interim leadership following negotiations, and had stalled on the matter of the number of vice-premiers the cabinet should have. Iohannis, who has served as mayor of Sibiu since 2000, has been a member of the PNL since February 2013
when he was directly elected as the party’s first vice-president. He is a graduate of the Physics Faculty at the Babes Bolyai University in Cluj Napoca. Iohannis worked as a high school teacher between 1983 and 1997, when he joined the Sibiu School Inspectorate. Between 1999 and 2000 he acted as general inspector. He began his political career in 1990 by joining the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR). Over recent years his name has often been mentioned in relation to several top political positions.
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