Electrocontact profits shrink

Electrical and electrical engineering equipment producer Electrocontact Botosani concluded the first quarter this year with nearly three times lower profit than in the same time last year. The entire 2003 net profit had fallen 36% compared with 2002. The company concluded Q1 with 1.12bn ROL net profit, while the net profit for Q1, 2003 had amounted to 3.3bn ROL. Electrocontact's sales in the same period fell below one million dollars to 31.4bn ROL, compared with 34.8bn ROL in the same time last year. The main beneficiaries of the products made by Electrocontact include the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant and carmaker Dacia-Renault Pitesti. Its main competitors are Electroaparataj and Electromagnetica, based in Bucharest. Ele ctrocontact is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and was one of the top stocks in the first two months of this year, reaching an all time high of 1,760 ROL, up nearly 200% from the beginning of the year. The demand was not due to its financial results but to the acquisition of shares on the market given the upcoming disbandment of the Employee Association, the company's largest shareholder. The disbandment helped the other significant shareholder, the company chairman Gabriel Chiriac, consolidate his position up to over 70%. ZF