ABB Romania, the local branch of the Swiss-Swedish automation and energy equipment group, is planing to expand to the Republic of Moldova next year, chairman Peter Simon says. The expansion comes after seven years in business in Romania, during which turnover has come to total about $100 million. “The share of ABB’s local branch in the total volume of the local operations of the group is going up. It is only natural that the local branch would grow and want to expand,” Simon says. The volume of ABB orders on the Romanian market includes both those placed with ABB Romania (the local branch) and those placed with other companies in the group that do business on the domestic market. Orders received by ABB in Romania in the first half amount to about $22.3 million, up 8% in dollars from the same time last year, given that the number of local ABB companies went down from two to one. ZF