SIF Muntenia outpaced by inflation

SIF Muntenia on Monday announced it had attained its 2003 S&R budget target 99%, posting a 356.7bn ROL net profit instead of the projected 360.7bn ROL. Compared with the previous year, the profit was 8.5% higher, while the inflation amounted to 14.1%. SIF Muntenia’s total revenues reached 594bn ROL last year, while spending totalled 230bn ROL.

Most of the revenues of the five SIFs comes from the dividends disbursed by the top banks like Banca Comerciala Romana and BRD mainly. They also make money from selling stakes at a higher price than initially paid.

The most important such transactions for SIF Muntenia last year were the sale of its stakes in Romcim Bucharest and Demir Romlease, which generated an approximately 100bn ROL profit in the first three months of the year alone. The financial investment company’s earnings per share last year reached 498 ROL, with the SIF trading for 3,900 ROL on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Monday. The dividends to be disbursed by the company will be debated by its shareholders in the second half of April. SIF Muntenia is the only financial investment company that does not manage its portfolio, but employs an investment management company, Muntenia Invest, to do that instead.

Like most SIFs, Muntenia will direct a large part of its investments to the tourism industry in the years to come. Last year, it bought a company that held a plot of land and a number of accommodation facilities near the Mamaia resort, in order to build a holiday village. Investments in this project are supposed to amount to several million dollars. The price paid stirred a lot of questions. Other companies in which SIF Muntenia bought stake last year are Sanex Cluj-Napoca tile maker and Plastex Tulcea plastic maker.

Another financial investment company to have released preliminary financials for last year is SIF Transilvania. Its net profit amounts to 352.3bn ROL, which is 2bn ROL lower than previously announced. Earnings per share are worth 645 ROL, which accounts for 13% of the latest quote on the Stock Exchange. SIF Transilvania was quoted at 4,900 ROL on Monday.

The shares of the five financial investment companies have gone up 13.5% since the beginning of the year.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro