Petru Prunea won''t sell stock

Broker, the only capital market intermediation company listed on the Stock Exchange, last year more than doubled its gains compared with 2004, but was still below its budgeted level.

Petru Prunea, chairman of the company, says he preferred not to sell some of the stakes owned by the company, which would have allowed it to hit the budgeted target, because this would have caused it to register losses for a longer period of time.

Most shares listed on the Stock Exchange started the year enjoying solid growth, and thus the decision not to sell cannot be said to be a mistake. The company registers profits only at the moment of sale, even though it may enjoy potential gains resulting from stock increases.

In 2005, Broker derived net income worth 13.16 million RON (3.6 million euros), more than double the income posted in 2004. Broker”s gross income exceeded 15 million RON (4.1 million euros), below the 17m RON budgeted for at the beginning of the year.

“We are satisfied with the profit we derived, which is in line with the executive management”s budget stipulations. The 17 million RON level was budgeted at the request of some of our rather too upbeat shareholders, but we did not want to force the liquidation of some portfolio positions, a move that would have brought us a solid gain, though lower than the level anticipated for 2006,” specified Petru Prunea, SSIF Broker chairman.

Prunea also says that increasing capital will continue to be one of Broker”s main objectives, so that the company may take advantage of opportunities offered on the capital market, which in recent years has been following a powerfully ascending trend – a situation which is not expected to change over the next 2-3 years.

As a matter of fact, gross profit in 2005 was largely derived from speculations on the capital market. Thus, the company gained more than 12 million RON from favourable price differences, with the rest coming from fees.

Last year, Broker posted turnover worth 8.9 million RON (2.4 million euros), about two times higher when compared to turnover in 2004.

In this context, the Broker chief says he plans a series of capital increases in the future so that the company may see capital standing at 100m RON in 2-3 years, three times higher than the current level. catalin.ciocan@zf.ro