IT&C distributors and some retailers fully felt the crisis fallout starting as early as 2008

Several domestic IT&C companies, particularly from IT&C distribution and retail, fully felt the shock of fourth-quarter plummeting sales amid the worsening economic situation, according to the Finance Ministry data. Tornado Sistems, once the strongest IT&C distributor in Romania, saw its sales fall by 33% to 63m euros, while losses deepened to over 5 million euros. eMag, leader on the retail market, in 2008 posted 5.3% higher sales, to 73.1m euros, but logged losses of 3.8m euros. Among GSM retail networks, Germanos, owned by Cosmote group, boasted 130m-euro turnover, up 50% yoy, but the retailer is coping with losses, just like Cosmote. Orange and Vodafone, the biggest mobile telephony market players domestically, are still dominating the ranking of domestic firms boasting the biggest revenues and net incomes. RCS&RDS telecom firm slipped into the red last year, with the total level of debts topping 614m euros. Zapp turnover in 2008 dropped to 61m euros, while its net losses amounted to 41m euros.