Exclusive: 2009 wipes out EUR 10 billion turnovers for 100 biggest companies in Romania

The 100 biggest companies in Romania posted a cumulated turnover of EUR 44.8 billion last year, which was down EUR 10 billion compared to a year before, according to a recent report exclusively created by Romania Business Insider. The ten biggest companies in Romania based on their turnovers have together run businesses of EUR 14.2 billion last year, based on their financial reporting, which was down on how much the ten largest companies made a year before: EUR 19 billion. The top of companies is opened by OMV Petrom, which had the first place in 2008 too, now followed by Automobile Dacia (on the third place in 2008), Rompetrol Rafinare(second place in 2008), Metro Cash & Carry (up from the fifth place in 2008), Rompetrol Downstream (up from the sixth place in 2008), Orange Romania (on the 8th place in 2008), British American Tobbaco (14th place in 2008), Nokia Romania (one of the biggest increases in the top, up from the 37th place in 2008), Carrefour Romania (11th place last year), and Vodafone Romania, which has kept the tenth position in the top. The number of companies which managed to exceed the EUR 1 billion threshold last year was also below the one in 2008 - but the volatility of the exchange rate had an important role to play. The average exchange rate in 2008 was of RON 3.68/EUR, while in 2009 it went up to RON 4.24/EUR. All in all, nine companies posted turnovers above EUR 1 billion last year. In 2008, there were 12 companies with turnovers above EUR 1 billion. The five most profitable companies last year were OMV Petrom, Orange, Vodafone, Romgaz and Electrica, while the biggest losses were posted by ArcelorMittal Galati, CNADR, Rompetrol Rafinare, Petrotel Lukoil and CFR Marfa. The total cumulated profit of the companies in the top was of EUR 1.8 billion. In terms of employees, the biggest company is state-owned Posta Romana (Romanian Post), with 35,320 employees, followed by OMV Petrom, with some 30,398, Romsilva, with 19,605, CFR Marfa (17,089), CFR Calatori (16,589), Automobile Dacia (12,698), ArcelorMittal, with 11,049, and Romtelecom, with 10,128 employees. In total, these companies employ 353,000 people, out of a total of 4.36 million employees at the end of 2009 in Romania. This means these companies employ under 10 percent of the staff in Romania.