Pension funds "save" 6m euros through random clientdistribution
Managers of mandatory private pensions (2nd pillar) got around330,000 clients "for free" from the random distribution of peopleworking their first job who have not chosen the pension fund theywant to contribute to, according to data of the Private PensionsSupervisory Commission (CSSPP). For these clients pension managershave not paid any commission to marketing agents (who attractparticipants). Considering that the commission paid to one agent isaround 20 euros, pension managers saved around 6.6 million euros.From the launch of the mandatory private pensions system at the endof 2007, managers spent tens of millions of euros in the form ofcommissions to attract new clients. According to CSSPP data, fromthe beginning of this year until the end of November over 309,000people were randomly distributed by the National Pensions House(which manages the Romanian public pensions system), with anotheraround 20,000 people to become part of this "lottery", according tosome estimates. Randomly distributed clients are people up to theage of 35, who are at their first job and fail to choose theirpension fund within four months from their employment. The numberof those who are randomly assigned every month is relatively high,considering that most companies have frozen hiring.
A&D Pharma integrates founders' businesses for 23meuros
A&D Pharma, the largest pharmaceutical group on the Romanianmarket, will integrate the operations of Arishop in Bulgaria andthe Ozone divisions in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the CzechRepublic, in the wake of a 23.15 million-euro transaction. A&DPharma founders, businessmen Ludovic Robert, Walid Abboud, andRoger Akoury, who are keeping their controlling stake in the group,are also shareholders of the newly-acquired companies. Followingthe deal, A&D Pharma expands its operations onto five regionalmarkets, which will generate around 12% of the turnover. In thefirst nine months of the year the company posted 364.6 millioneuros in turnover, and a quarterly average of 121 million euros.According to ZF calculations, if the A&D Pharma businessreaches 490 million euros at the end of this year, recentlyacquired companies will generate around 60 million euros. The grouppays the highest price to enter the Bulgarian market, with theArishop takeover put at around 12.75 million euros. The acquisitionof one Ozone division in Poland costs 6 million euros, with theshareholders to pay 0.4 million euros for the Ozone companies inHungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, as well as for anotherPolish division.
Sortilemn Gherla budgets 27m-euro turnover
The management of Sortilemn based in Gherla, one of the leadingsuppliers of Swedish group IKEA on the Romanian market, expects a27 million-euro turnover in 2010, a level similar to that expectedfor this year, when sales were down 25%. "The financial crisiscontinues to affect the progression of Sortilemn's business, witharmchair sales on a steady decline. We are only recording rises onthe children's furniture segment, but we will focus our attentionon developing new products for foreign clients in the comingperiod, considering that improvements are yet to be seen on theRomanian market," Michael Brandhuber, general manager and majorityshareholder of Sortilemn, told ZF Transilvania. In 2008 over 70% ofSortilemn's production was ordered by IKEA, with clients of theGherla-based company including Norway's Stokke, and Sweden's Brioand Elfa.
Winter holidays in petrol stations: store sales rise byas much as 30%
The big petrol station chains on the Romanian market havestarted to prepare special offers for the winter holidays, and withgood reason: revenues from the non-oil segment can rise by up to30% against a regular month. Petroleum companies are not expectinga sales decline during this period compared with last year, havingcontinued expansion of petrol station chains. "In December,especially in the run-up to the winter holidays, sales of non-oilproducts in Rompetrol petrol stations rise by around 27%, making upbetween 9% and 20% of a station's overall sales. The rise isgenerated both by the petrol stations being open non-stop, as wellas by the seasonal offers," say representatives of Rompetrol, thesecond-largest player on the petroleum market, which has an around783-petrol station chain. The other players are also optimistic asto the sales trend in the winter holiday period, and in December inparticular. "We expect sales on the non-oil segment to rise byaround 10% compared with a regular month," say representatives ofOMV Romania, a company that posted over 600 million euros inturnover via its 77 petrol stations last year.
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