ECONOMIC INFO
- August 2003 -
Aerostar Bacau launches Boeing service certification process
Aerostar Bacau launched procedures for the certification of repair and maintenance services for Boeing passenger aircraft, as well as for the personnel involved in the respective processes.
“Training costs will be financed by Aerostar, as amounts are relatively large. It is our interest to have well trained personnel, as now we are talking about big aircraft repairs, which is different from what we have been doing so far,” Grigore Filip, General Manager of Aerostar Bacau explained.
In order to provide repair and maintenance services for Boeing aircraft, the Aerostar personnel has to be certified, and in a first stage theoretical training programs were carried out, delivered by foreign trainers. The practical component of the program will be carried out in European centers certified for such services.
Aerostar has recently announced it will carry out, as of September, repair and maintenance services for Boeing 737 passenger planes, the first foreign contract in commercial aviation signed by the company.
For carrying out such works, Aerostar will set up, together with Aviation International Group, UK, the Aerostar International Group joint venture, based in London. Operations of the joint venture will address airlines operating Boeing aircraft, but which cannot carry out the repair and maintenance works specific for such planes.
Aerostar produces and repairs aircraft and components, and containers for liquefied petroleum gas.
(source: Nine O’Clock)
Foreign companies invest hundreds of millions Euro
Romania’s moving on to the free market economy triggered the development of forms of trade, with the retail market including at present supermarkets, hypermarkets, cash&carry stores, malls or even specialized commercial centers. The market size, on the one hand - Romania is second in Central and Eastern Europe, after Poland - and the increase in the population’s purchase power, raised the interest of foreign commercial chains in Romania. As competition grows fiercer, spaces deemed attractive for such investments are increasingly difficult to find, however real estate analysts believe there is still room for new centers. And projects are not few. The most impressive development on the cash&carry segment was witnessed by German group Metro, with 15 stores so far, and estimating a total 20 units by the end of next year. “We are planning to reach the 20 units objective in late 2004, but this depends to a great extent on the country’s economic development, as well as on the reaction of our competitors,” Delia Nica, PR Manager of Metro Romania stated. Each Metro store accounts for an approx. 15 M Euro investment, with sale areas of 6,500 to 10,000 sqm and approx. 350 employees per store.
The next investments are scheduled for Suceava and Tirgu Mures. In turn, the German company Selgros - present on the Romanian market since 2001, with a cash&carry unit in Brasov - plans to expand, in the next few years, to 15 such commercial centers, for each of them investments of approx. 15 M Euro being scheduled. At present, Selgros operates another store in Tirgu-Mures and three in Bucharest. On the hypermarket segment, the battle is waged by Carrefour and Cora. Carrefour currently operates only one location - in the village of Chiajna - which, less than 2 years since inauguration, was expanded from 8,700 to 10,000 sqm. “Our intention is to further develop this center, by opening, in 2004-2005, a retail park, the first in the country, to spread over 14,000 sqm,” says Francois Oliver, Executive Manager of Carrefour Romania.
The French group scheduled the opening of another 2 centers in Bucharest, of which the first in September and the second in February 2004. A fourth hypermarket will be opened in Brasov, while in the long run the company targets a total 24-25 centers on the Romanian market. “Beginning with 2004, the group’s development pace in Romania will be at least 2 new hypermarkets opened per year, both in Bucharest and in the country, in towns with over 200,000 inhabitants. For opening such a hypermarket, an investment of approx. 30 M Euro is necessary,” says Oliver. The Cora hypermarket chain has not yet finalised any project in Romania, but prepares for the end of September the inauguration of its first store, in Bucharest’s Pantelimon neighborhood. The company will also open a second Cora hypermarket in Bucharest, in the second half of 2004, in Militari.
By 2010, the French-Belgium group Louis Delhaze plans to open 14 Cora hypermarkets in Romania, in towns with over 300,000 inhabitants, the total investment put at approx. 500 M Euro. The most important supermarkets on the domestic market are Billa and XXL, however the Proxi chain, developed in Transylvania in particular - has reported a spectacular growth lately. “The Profi network includes, at present, 13 stores, but by the end of the year we plan to open another 7 - one in Alba Iulia, one in Baia Mare, 2 in Ploiesti and another 3 for which we are negotiating the space,” Gabriela Mengher, Marketing Manager with Profi Rom Food stated. The investment involved in opening a Profi store reaches 650,000 Euro. “By 2004, we intend to have 30 stores opened, the development pace we would like to maintain being 10 new stores per year,” Mengher added.
(source: Nine O’Clock)
Transelectrica externalizes IT operations for USD 1.5 M
Hewlett-Packard (HP) Romania will provide to the National Company Transelectrica IT services of ROL 50 bn (over 1.5 M USD), according to a contract signed on Thursday, declared Jean Constantinescu, general manager Transelectrica. According to the official, HP Romania was selected further to an international auction, attended by another 4 major companies, among which IBM Romania.
“Based on that agreement, Transelectrica will externalize the IT services for the two locations of the central headquarters. HP will take care of everything which means hardware, software licenses, IT networks, maintenance operations, upgrading the equipment, consumables, replacement of deficient spare parts,” added Constantinescu. The company has not yet discussed the implementation of such measure in its branches around the country. In the first 6 months of this year, Transelectrica reported a gross profit of ROL 237.4 bn, for a total volume of revenues of ROL 3,580 bn. In 2002, the turnover of the company was ROL 6,709 bn, while the net profit was ROL 289 bn. “For this year, we estimate receipts of around ROL 8,000 bn,” added Constantinescu.
The company has 8 branches, in Bacau, Constanta, Pitesti, Craiova, Timisoara, Sibiu, Cluj and Bucharest. Hewlett-Packard company has been present on the Romanian market since 1975. In 1997, HP opened a representative office in Bucharest, and in May 2000 the commercial company Hewlett-Packard Romania was established. HP Romania recorded a turnover of over 60 bn USD in the tax year 2002, closed on October 30, 2002. For the tax year 2003, the goal of the company is to obtain at least 10 percent higher receipts. Internationally, HP closed early this year contracts for the externalization of the IT operations with Ericsson and Procter&Gamble, the value of the latter being 3 bn USD over a duration of 10 years.
(source: Nine O’Clock)