SIF Muntenia starts year with losses

SIF Muntenia is the only financial investment company (SIF) not to have posted profits for January. It suffered losses of more than 100 million ROL (2,700 euros) in January, mostly from administrative expenses. The company did not report any significant share sales for the month. Among the four other SIFs, SIF Oltenia posted the highest profits at 2.4 million euros, largely due to the transactions conducted on the capital market. Brokers on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, however, say the results posted by SIFs in the first month of the year are not a good indication of their end of year results. “The time frame is too narrow and no conclusion can be drawn based on this in terms of the performance of the company,” said Valentin Ionescu, head of operations with Euro Invest Vision. A large part of SIF revenues comes from the dividends they collect from the companies in their portfolios, which are disbursed mid year. SIF Muntenia turned out to be more active on the capital market in February, buying 2% in Biofarm listed on the RASDAQ for 23.6bn ROL (0.6 million euros). At the same time, SIF Muntenia sold its entire 15.4% stake in geological survey company Foradex Bucharest for 41.1bn ROL (1.1 million euros). It also began 2004 with losses but managed to catch up, reporting a nearly 11.4 million euro full-year profit. ZF