IBM Romania outpaces IT market

IBM Romania, the local branch of the world’s IT industry leader concluded 2002 with very good results, as it managed to be the fastest growing subsidiary in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region in terms of revenues, for the second year in a row and for the third time in the past five years. IBM Romania’s turnover went up 25.6% in 2002 compared with 2001, general manager Vladimir Aninoiu announced, explaining the corporate policy did not allow revealing turnover by subsidiary. He added IBM Romania’s turnover had increased twice faster than the domestic IT market. Software and IT services accounted for about 40% of last year’s turnover, with the rest derived from the sales of servers and PCs. IBM Romania’s business partners contributed 55% to its sales last year. The revenues earned from the company’s core business were 7% derived from projects for telecommunications companies, 18% from contracts with banking institutions and 26% from contracts with the public sector. Projects carried out for utility and manufacturing companies accounted for yet another 19% of the revenues. The contracts with small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 30% of IBM Romania’s 2002 sales. Last year’s most important contract was worth $12 million, while 2001’s most important contract was worth $4.6 million. As for servers, IBM Romania posted 17.2% sales growth for 2002, while the International Data Corporation research company had forecast 3.42% growth for this segment in Romania last year. PC sales went up 57.6% compared with 2002. Revenues derived from software sales increased 29.6% in 2002, while IDC was estimating the entire software market in Romania to go up by 17.1% in 2002, compared with 2001. ZF