Automobile Dacia, OMV Petrom Marketing, OMV Petrom in top 500 CEE

Automobile Dacia, Petrom Marketing and OMV Petrom are the highest ranked Romanian companies in Coface CEE top 500.

The Romanian companies included in the ranking have been present on the market for over 18 years and are active in the automotive, chemicals, petroleum, plastics and pharma sectors, as well as in the transport, agriculture, meat, agro-food and wines sector.

With 63 companies compared to 59 in 2014, Romania, along Poland, dominates the agriculture, meat, agro-food, and wines sector, with 7 companies in the ranking, respectively 19. Within CEE, Romanian companies represent 7 percent, while in Top 500 CEE, Romania represents 12 percent.

“We are glad to announce a strengthening of the level of trust within both the business environment and in the important sectors of the industries. Romania’s assets, the agriculture and automotive sectors, consolidated our position within the Top 500, but we hope to make some progresses next year, taking into consideration the Romanian position compared to the region analysed by both the GDP and the improvement of the business environment assessment from B to A4.”, said Eugen Anicescu, Country Manager Coface Romania.

According to the analysis, only 21 percent of companies present in Romania have local shareholders. By contrast, in the Czech Republic, 37 percent of companies have local shareholders, and in Poland the percentage is 43.

The indebtedness of the players presented in the ranking is stable with an average of 38.4 percent (2015), 38.8 percent (2014), 38.3 percent (2013).

“The forecast for the CEE region in 2016 is nearly at the same level as 2015, with an estimated average growth rate of 3.0%. Further improvements in the labour market and growing confidence will strengthen household consumption as the main growth driver for CEE economies” said Grzegorz Sielewicz, Senior Economist Central and Eastern Europe. “The contribution of investments will not be as high as last year, due to a slow start to new EU co-financed projects, which is weakening the expansion of the construction sector and various other industries connected with it. On the external side, CEE countries will remain active exporters – although the slowdown of global trade could hamper their ambitions.”

Across Central and Eastern Europe, the average GDP growth was 3.3 percent. In the area, private consumption rose due to declining unemployment and increased wages. Poland, by far the largest economy in the region, is home to most of the top players in CEE, followed by the Czech Republic and Hungary.