SIFs two-month profit, $2 million

The five financial investment companies (SIF) posted cumulated profit of 76.3bn ROL ($2.2 million) for the first two months of this year.
SIF Transilvania was the top performer in terms of profit, as it logged 27bn ROL in net income at the end of February. It made most of the profit, 23bn ROL, from only one transaction early in that month. It is about the sale of the 38% stake it held in Brasov-based Panificatie Postavarul (Postavarul Milling & Bakery) to American Broadhurst Investment Fund during a public takeover bid on RASDAQ.
The par value of a Postavarul share is 25,000 ROL, while Broadhurst offered 90,000 ROL, so that the financial investment company gained 65,000 ROL for every share it sold.
Brokers and investors, however, are expecting the summer months, when the profit of the financial investment companies is due to surge because of the registration of the banking dividends, which have been making up most of SIFs’ profit over the last few years.
The assets of the financial investment companies gained 8.2% compared to the previous month on the average, with SIF Moldova and SIF Muntenia posting the highest growth, more than 15% from January.
The highest NAVs are those of SIF Banat-Crisana and SIF Transilvania, worth more than 9,000 ROL/share. Their shares are, after all, the most expensive on the Stock Exchange, having traded for 2,600 ROL over the last two sessions.
Two of the financial investment companies, SIF Banat-Crisana and SIF Oltenia last month expressed interest to participate in the establishment of a new fixed telephony operator side by side with Compania Nationala Posta RomA’na (Romanian Post Office National Company). The investment in this new venture has not been revealed yet, but SIF Oltenia announced it was willing to contribute 2.5% in the capital of the new entity.
The SIF Stock Exchange quote/NAV ratio went down in February.
The financial investment companies shares followed a downward trend last month. They lost more than 20% in the first half of the month, primarily because – as brokers say, of the Court of Accounts control, which also led to a drop in the traded value.