SIFs post large mid-year gains

The financial investment company SIF Oltenia has reported six-month gross profits of 53.5 million RON (14.6 million euros), up 90% on H1, 2004. SIF Oltenia posted the highest H1 profits among the four financial investment companies to have released first-half results.

The bulk of the profits (around 9.8 million euros) were made over the last two months, when dividends from banks entered the company”s accounts. For June SIF Oltenia posted profits of 16.6 million RON (4.6 million euros).

Among the three other SIFs to have released results for June, SIF Transilvania came in second with 13.6 million RON (almost 3.8 million euros), followed by SIF Banat Crisana with gross profits of 11.2 million RON (3.2 million euros). Cumulated profit over the first six months came to 9.6 million euros for SIF Transilvania and 11.2 million euros for SIF Banat-Crisana.

SIF Banat-Crisana handled the only significant deal in June when it sold its 14.7% stake in Remarul 16 Februarie Cluj-Napoca, a company that manufactures and repairs trains.

The transaction, worth 850,000 euros, brought SIF Banat-Crisana 700,000 euros in profit.

The dividends received for the stakes in banks provide one of the main sources of revenue for the SIFs.

Their portfolios include 6% stakes in BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank) and 5% stakes in BRD (Romanian Development Bank), as well as significant stakes in Banca Transilvania and Banc Post. The value of dividends received by the SIFs from BCR and BRD alone amounts to 7 million euros. andrei.chirileasa@zf.ro