Coface CEE Top 500 Companies: Romania’s economic champions still far behind Hungary’s

Romania has 63 firms listed in this year’s edition of the Coface CEE Top 500 Companies based on their turnover, four more compared to last year. These companies, which are the country's economic champions, show where Romania's real economy stands compared to other countries in the region. Romania still ranks fourth in the region for the number of companies in the ranking and in terms of cumulated turnover of these companies, after Poland, which has 167 companies, Czech Republic (71), and Hungary (69). Although Romania got nearer to Hungary and Czech Republic in terms of number of companies in the ranking, it is still far behind on the size of these companies. The 69 Hungarian companies in the ranking had a total turnover of EUR 97 billion, in 2015, while the 63 Romanian companies had cumulated revenues of EUR 54.6 billion. Moreover, car producer Automobile Dacia, the biggest company in Romania, ranks only 17th, with a turnover of EUR 4.2 billion last year. It is followed by OMV Petrom Marketing, which ranks 24th, with a turnover of EUR 3.2 billion, and by OMV Petrom, with businesses of EUR 3 billion. Oil company Rompetrol Rafinare ranks next, with a turnover of EUR 2.1 billion in 2015, followed by retailer Kaufland Romania, with a turnover of just over EUR 2 billion. By comparison, Hungary has three companies in top 10: equipment producer GE Hungary (EUR 13.9 billion turnover), oil company Mol (EUR 13.2 billion), and car maker Audi Hungaria (EUR 8.3 billion). The Czech Republic also has two companies in top 10, car maker Skoda (EUR 11.6 billion) and energy group CEZ (EUR EUR 7.8 billion), and Slovakia has one, car maker Volkswagen Slovakia (EUR 7.2 billion). The other four companies in top 10 are Polish. The turnover of the Romanian companies listed in the top 500 went up by 2.4% compared to the previous year, whereas their net profit dropped by 12% year-on-year, to EUR 1.37 billion. By comparison, the Hungarian companies in the ranking were ten times more profitable, with a cumulated net result of EUR 13.6 billion. One in five Romanian companies present in the ranking recorded losses in 2015, similar to the Polish companies. By comparison, only one in ten companies in Hungary and the Czech Republic, which were listed in the top 500, recorded losses last year. The full ranking is available here. Romania’s biggest company is only 16th in the regional ranking editor@romania-insider.com