London Stock Exchange (LSE) analysts have identified ten Romanian companies among the 1,000 small and mid-sized firms in Europe that can inspire the others with the recipe of their success.
The activities of the ten Romanian companies provide indications about the direction to which businesses head in Romania.
The selected companies had an average annual growth rate exceeding 100% over the past three years and a considerable employment rate over the last two years and their performance exceeded those of their competitors, according to the LSE report.
The future of the Romanian economy, as prefigured by the LSE selection, is about trade and consumption (especially from import) and less of production or services.
Three producers have been selected among the 10 Romanian companies. Allview produced the first Romanian PC tablet and produces several types of smart phones and gadgets, Complet Electro Serv manufactures consumer electronics and home appliances, and Neptun manufactures industrial equipment, but none refuses the sales business line.
However, only two of them, Allview and Neptun, are classified as production and engineering firms in the LSE report.
On the other hand, the lack of capital for development is one of the reasons why the producers also trade, sometimes in areas different from the core one, as Neptun did, which even launched into the distribution of fuels and designed a new chain of gas stations.
Among the ten Romanian companies, there is also a telecommunication services company, Vox Carrier, and a courier service company, Fan Curier.
The other five companies have activities in trade, basically and on a case by case basis, in logistics and are mainly importers: watches, luxury jewellery, outfits and cosmetics (B & B Collection); – more or less sophisticated medical equipment (Medist Group); – auto – moto and machinery (Gradinariu import Export); – electrical and lighting products (ELBI Electric & Lighting); – fruits and vegetables (Microfruits).
Total revenue of the ten companies varies between 50 and 75 million euros for Allview, B & B Collection, ELBI Electric & Lighting, Gradinariu import Export. The others have annual revenues between 20 and 40 million euros, with the exception of Fan Curier that can reach up to 100 million euros.
Romania and others
The ten Romanian SMEs selected by analysts of London Stock Exchange, eventually to be approached for listing within its segment of promising share issuers, had an average annual business growth rate of 149% to an average revenue of 47 million euros. They have 25 own registered trademarks and 3,615 employees with a 29% growth rate over the past two years.
The map of Europe, with the best-performing companies by their growth rhythm:
The number of Romanian companies included in the London Stock Exchange report is similar to Hungary and the Czech Republic. The fact that Romanians have fewer companies than Poles (30) but more than Bulgarians (5) can be also explained by the different size of their economies. The rule no longer applies to the comparison with Hungarians and the Czechs.
The 30 Polish companies have though 50 own trademarks, the ten Hungarian companies have no less than 128 own patents.
