ZF News

Leasing companies now granting up to a one-year grace period

  Leasing companies are now granting as much as a six-month or even a one-year grace period for clients facing temporary liquidity problems, especially for those who have money to collect from the state, such as construction companies, for instance. UniCredit Leasing Corporation, the largest company on the market, granted grace periods to several tens of clients, whereas in 2008 there were no such cases. “The longest grace period we have granted this year is a six-month one, for a client who has problems at present, but is to collect money from the state. Now we are analysing the cases of two clients to whom we are thinking about granting one-year grace periods,” says Dan Constantinescu, executive sales manager of UniCredit Leasing, a company that works mainly with corporate entities. This year, leasing companies have seen a significant rise in the number of late payers. Although there are no official statistics on the rate of past due payments, estimates on the market indicate that leasing companies have repossessed around 10,000 cars from clients with financial difficulties, as well as a few hundreds of pieces of equipment and real estate properties. ZF   Mihai Rohan, Carpatcement: Lack of liquidity is biggest problem   Mihai Rohan, chairman and chief executive of Carpatcement Holding, the Romanian subsidiary of German group HeidelbergCement, says the biggest problem of the cement business has been the lack of liquidity on the market, which prolonged the cycle that involves money – raw material – production – finished product – money. “The biggest problem this year, for the entire economy is the lack of liquidity and the difficult access to financing products, which have a direct impact on consumption. We have had a few isolated cases of late payers, but fortunately, no large sums were involved. However, we are cautious and examining debt very carefully,” explains Rohan, who is at the helm of a 300 million-euro business. The head of Carpatcement Holding says the instability of the economic environment led to cautiousness across-the-board, with everyone from common people, to companies and to the authorities, having become more reluctant when it comes to making investments and acquisitions of any kind. ZF   Number of bank employees down by 1,000 in three months   The number of bank employees fell from 71,622 at the end of last year to 70,458 at the end of March 2009, according to data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania), with this being the first decline in the number of employees in the banking system. The reduction by over 1,000 employees in three months could also be attributed to staff retiring, not necessarily to redundancies. “This could be the result of staff retiring from some of the banks. A lot of staff was hired in the banking system in 2007 and 2008, around 20,000,” says Cristian Paraschiv, president of the Insurance and Banking Trade Union Federation, which represents five banks on the market: BRD, Raiffeisen Bank, Bancpost, UniCredit and MKB Romexterra Bank. “The slowdown in the rise of hiring or even the personnel cuts have not significantly affected the number of employees in the system. The two trends have contributed to a contraction in the indicator that gives the number of employees per branch, from 12 in 2007 to 11 in December 2008 and to 10.8 in March 2008.” ZF   Romstal’s turnover to stagnate at 328m euros in 2009   Romstal, a producer and supplier of sanitary ware, ceramic plates, lighting fixtures and electric equipment, estimates its consolidated business on all markets where it is present will stagnate at 328 million euros in 2009. “We expect to see a similar turnover to that recorded in 2008 – a downward sales trend in the first half of the year and an upward trend in the second half. Sale prices will be significantly influenced by the progression of raw material and by the RON/EUR trend. “There is already a spate of special offers based on price cuts, launched by all players on the market in view of getting rid of as much as possible of the stock acquired in the course of last year,” said Romstal representatives. Romstal is present on the markets of Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova and Italy, and the business is controlled by Enrico Perini. The company’s consolidated business climbed from 311 million euros to 328 million euros last year. In Romania, the company’s operations are carried out under the name Romstal Imex, which posted a turnover rise last year, from 199 million euros to 223 million euros. ZF