Romnav profit soars

Naval shipping company Romnav Braila posted 576,000 RON (160,000 euro) net profit in the first nine months of the year, 48.3% more than in the whole of 2004. The turnover of the company three quarters into the year stood at more than 12.5 million RON (3.45 million euros), 6.54% lower than at the end of 2004. Romnav did not post nine-month financials last year. “The significant growth of the net profit is not so much due to the price increase as it is to the reduction of expenses. We increased our short-distance transport capacity a little, thus obtaining better profit margins. Another important factor that led to a growth in profits was our entry onto the international shipping market, where profits are much higher,” explained Gheorghe Antistescu, Romnav”s general manager. Romnav shareholders early last month approved the taking out of a loan of approximately 4 million euros, to start a programme to modernise the company”s fleet. “We are looking for a lender. We are trying to obtain as good financing terms as possible, given that we do not want to use long-term loans. The more than 4 million euros we need to make our investment programme will be divided into two tranches. The first, of 1.5 million euros, has already been taken out, while the rest of the money is to be obtained next year or in two years, depending on our needs. Unfortunately, we could not get non-repayable funds, although it would have been beneficial for the company, especially since competition will intensify after 2007. After EU accession, strong competitors from the Netherlands and Germany will arrive and we want to be competitive at least in terms of the viability of the services provided,” Antistescu said. ZF