EUROPE’S BIGGEST COMPANIES

TOP 100
companies
net profit rose 10% to 82.9 million euro, as its
turnover edged up 2.2% to 4.25 billion euro.
Worldwide sales of Renault under its Dacia
brand rose 19% to 511,465 vehicles in 2014. As
of the end of June 2015 Dacia’s sales in Romania
totaled 18,369 units, up by more than 25%
year-on-year, giving the company grounds to
expect a record-high full-year sales result.
Energy companies lose ground,
maintain dominance
With combined revenues of 40.6 billion euro,
the oil and gas companies continued to dominate
the SEE TOP 100 ranking, as this is particularly
noticeable in the upper end of the table.
However, their revenue remained flattish,
whereas their combined net profit dropped to
263 million euro from 979 million euro.
In tune with this trend, the biggest oil and gas
company in the region, OMV Petrom, ceded the
no. 1. position it had been holding for six years
to Dacia. The company saw its revenues fall
only slightly but its profit more than halved.
Oil and gas companies occupy eight of the
top ten positions in the ranking. However,
they also dominate the list of the biggest
loss-makers, with Serbia’s gas monopoly
Srbijagas posting the heftiest loss in SEE. A
notable exception here is Romgaz, which
stands out as the most profitable company
in the SEE TOP 100 ranking with a 28% return
on revenue. The number of oil and gas
companies that made it into the SEE TOP 100
ranking dropped to 27 from 29 a year earlier.
Second in terms of number of representatives
in the ranking was the electricity sector,
with 18 representatives and combined earnings
of 15.3 billion euro, down by 5.6%. For a
large number of the electricity companies in
the region, the decline in earnings was due
to unfavourable regulatory environment and
poor weather conditions.
Wholesale and retail had 17 representatives
in the ranking, and their combined earnings
stood at 14.5 billion euro, up by 7% as compared
to a year earlier. Two companies should be singled
out - the Romanian unit of French retailer
Auchan, which posted the sharpest revenue
growth among the companies in the SEE TOP
100 ranking, by 63%, and Metro Cash&Carry
Romania, a new entrant which made it straight
to the 28th spot in the ranking.
Another industry to put up a good performance
was pharmaceuticals, with combined
Methodology
SEE TOP 100 ranks the biggest companies in Southeast Europe by total
revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. Both 2014 figures
and 2013 comparative counterparts are sourced from 2014 annual
non-consolidated reports.
The initial pool of companies exceeds 1,200 non-financial companies
registered in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
Banks, investment intermediaries, insurers and real estate investment
trusts (REITs) are excluded from the ranking as total revenue is not an
accurate indicator of their performance.
All data is sourced from national commercial registers, stock exchanges,
government and corporate websites, industry regulators, local
business information providers and companies themselves.
The ranking does not include companies that declined or failed to provide
financial results by the time SEE TOP 100’s content was finalised.
To allow comparison, all local currencies in the rankings have been
converted into euro, using the respective central bank’s official exchange
rate on the last working day of 2014 and 2013. Year-on-year
changes in the companies’ financial indicators have been calculated using
the figures in the original currency.
Elsewhere, local currency figures referencing past periods have been
converted into euro using the respective central bank exchange rate as
of the end of the relevant period while all other local currency figures
have been converted using the exchange rate as of the date the relevant
editorial content was finalised.
revenues of 2.5 billion euro, up by 7.6% and an
11.7% return on revenue, making it the third
most profitable industry in the region.
A total of 15 new companies made it into the
ranking. The newcomers were a motley band
featuring representatives of ten different sectors.
Romania, with a population of around 20
million and robust economic performance,
stands out as the undisputed market leader
in the region, placing 53 companies in the
ranking. Slovenia, with 13 representatives,
outranked Croatia and Bulgaria which had
11 each. Just like in the previous years, none
of the biggest companies in Montenegro,
Moldova, or Kosovo made the cut.
In solid recovery mode
Economic growth in SEE is expected to quicken
as consumer spending, exports and investment
continue to recover, real disposable
incomes rise and general business sentiment
improves. Romania, where planned tax cuts
will further improve the business environment,
will remain the frontrunner with GDP
growth seen at close to 4%. The economies in
the region are also expected to benefit significantly
from lower oil prices and substantial
support from EU structural funds.
Indications that the prospects before the
region are improving are also visible on the
M&A market, based on the deals announced
since the beginning of 2015. ICT is emerging as
one of the most attractive sectors for foreign
investors, alongside manufacturing, retail and
financial services. Notably, it is still missing
from the SEE TOP 100 ranking, which is bound
to change at some point. Agriculture companies
too are likely to boost their presence in
the ranking. Growing domestic consumption
and personal income are likely to benefit first
sectors such as retail and wholesale. More
good news is expected for the automotive
industry, as well, considering the still low car
ownership rate in the region and new car
sales data for the first half of 2015 for both
the EU and SEE.
On the losers’ side, judging by their first-half results,
most energy companies are likely to see
their financial results deteriorate, as they remain
particularly vulnerable to external factors
beyond their control. A number of electricity
companies too are likely to suffer further losses.
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