Grigore Chis, the trading manager of Romania's largest independent brokerage firm Broker Cluj, has resigned from his position only a few days after the company's main analyst, Nicolae Pascu, also left the company. Chis is one of the best-known brokers on the capital market and information relating to his departure had been circulating on the market for a long time.
His position has been filled by Adrian Ceuca. Nicolae Pascu was replaced by Adrian Zoicas Enciu.
Broker's plans for this year include boosting gross profits by 140% year-on-year. The company chairman has said the two resignations will not affect the situation of the company.
"There was no connection between the two resignations. I do not believe our activity will be harmed since I do not believe there is any danger of many of our customers leaving with them," said Petru Prunea, the company chairman.
In the Spending and Revenue Budget, Broker's shareholders approved the level of gross profits at 170 billion ROL (4.47 million euros), 140% higher than last year.
Broker ended the year with high profits amid increased stock values on Bucharest Stock Exchange. In the first two months of the year Broker reported gross profits of 73.1 billion ROL (1.9 million euros), almost the amount seen in the whole of 2004. The company chairman said he was expecting lower profits in the following months, with the high value of profits reported for the first two months being exceptions.
"We made a profit forecast for 2005 taking into account the profit we made in the first two months plus a profit of 10 billion ROL per month, and this appears to be justified considering the value of our capital, which is in excess 300 billion ROL," Prunea said.
Broker, whose stock is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, plans to raise its share capital by 87.6 billion ROL (2.4 million euros) to 318 billion ROL (8.7 million euros).
The operation will be carried out in the form of an issue of bonus shares linked to the issue premiums of some previous raises and the largest part of the 2004 profit. Company shareholders registered on April 11 will receive 38.7 bonus shares for every 100 owned.
The General Meeting of Shareholders late last week approved the start of the merger-through-absorption process of Broker with Elda Invest of Galati. The company's management was mandated to devise a merger prospectus. This year Broker plans to invest 41 billion ROL in territorial expansion with four new branches in Maramures, Alba, Bacau and Bucharest.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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