SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 6 (SeeNews) – Romanian car maker Automobile Dacia, a unit of France's Renault, topped the ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe (SEE) for 2014 released by news agency SeeNews on Tuesday.
The ranking of the largest non-financial companies by total revenue is part of the eighth annual edition of the SEE TOP 100 (http://top100.seenews.com) publication prepared by SeeNews, which also features rankings of the top 100 banks, insurers and the biggest listed companies registered in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
You can download the 2023 Automotive industry in Southeast Europe report here
Subdued domestic demand and low exports, limited credit growth due to high non-performing loan ratios, market volatility and political uncertainty continued to curb the financial performance of the companies in SEE in 2014. Overdue structural reforms weigh on the economies in the region, which failed to benefit fully from cheaper oil and the recovery of the euro area to offset the downward pressure of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The total revenue of the companies in the SEE TOP 100 ranking dropped, and so did their combined net profit. Most of the negative score was posted on the balance sheet of the heavyweights - the energy companies. At the same time car and car parts makers firmed their positions as the new pace setters.
Dacia replaced at the no. 1 position Romanian oil and gas company OMV Petrom [BSE:SNP], majority-owned by Austria's OMV, which had held the leading position for six years in a row. The car maker's success comes on the back of 4.25 billion euro ($4.75 billion) in total revenue for 2014 and a 10% increase in its net profit to 82.9 million euro.
Oil and gas companies, however, continued to dominate the SEE TOP 100 companies ranking, occupying eight of the top ten positions. Their total revenue edged down to 40.6 billion euro from 41.8 billion euro a year earlier, while their combined net profit shrank to 263 million euro from 979 million euro they posted a year earlier. The sector has 27 representatives in the ranking.
Second in terms of the number of entrants in the ranking was the electricity sector, which had 18 representatives and combined revenues of 15.3 billion euro, followed by wholesale and retail with 17 representatives and combined revenues of 14.5 billion euro.
Romania, the biggest market in the region, placed 53 companies in the ranking.
Croatia’s Zagrebacka Banka [ZSE:ZABA-R-A] climbed to the top spot in the ranking of the biggest banks in the region despite a slight fall in assets to 13.4 billion euro. Its net profit, however, more than doubled to 152.2 million euro, mainly as the result of lower impairment and operating costs and stable income. Last year's top-placer - Romania’s Banca Comerciala Romana, a unit of Austria’s Erste, ranked second, followed by another Romanian bank, BRD-Groupe Societe Generale.
Slovenia's Zavarovalnica Triglav [LJE:ZVTG] held on to the position of the region’s biggest insurer in 2014 even though its gross written premiums declined by 2.17% to 592.6 million euro.
($=0.8946 euro)