Interview: Alexandros Ignatiadis, managing director and co-founder of con-
WILD CARPATHIA
struction company Octagon, says the local infrastructure segment should recover by 2012, with more auctions and contracting expected to take place
A DOCUMENTARY ON THE NATIVE FORESTS OF THE CARPATHIANS URGES ROMANIA TO PROTECT ITS AREAS OF NATURAL BEAUTY »PAGE 13
»page 8
ROMANIA’S PREMIERE BUSINESS WEEKLY
October 31 - November 6, 2011 / VOLUME 16, NUMBER 38
NEWS
Going places Online travel agency Vola.ro, the fastest growing technology company in Central Europe according to Deloitte, is looking to open an office in Ukraine » page 3
NEWS ON THE GO
NEWS
Out of the woods? Romania’s economy has a positive though not spectacular outlook, says the WB » page 5 PLUS
Crulic A sobering animated documentary impresses our film critic » page 14
More mobile users are choosing to ‘read all about it’ on their phones, a trend embattled publishers are seizing on. BR looks at this fast growing area »page 10
Apple
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
NEWS 3
NEWS in brief
3Q Daniel Truica
RETAIL Elgeka Ferfelis takes over distribution for Trei Surori brand
Vola.ro
founder and managing partner of Vola.ro
Apple distributor Apcom teams up with retailer Altex Apcom, an official distributor of Apple products in Romania, will start implementing a new assistance project in retail sales. It will be rolled out in 21 Altex and Media Galaxy stores across Romania from November 1. Customers in Braila, Brasov, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu-Mures and Timisoara will receive specialized Apple advice. Also, seven Altex stores will be included in the iPad program and will be revamped to showcase the company’s products. Altex representatives expect this project to boost sales to 25,000 Apple iPad units between October 1, 2011, and September 30, 2012, especially during the winter holidays.
PROPERTY
What does the company’s financial chart look like? The turnover posted by Vola.ro last year is approximately EUR 5.5 million. For 2011, we estimate EUR 15 million. At the end of the first half of this year, the turnover had already reached EUR 6.6 million. In September 2011, the average value of a plane ticket purchase on Vola.ro was EUR 219. If we are talking about plane tickets alone, the best sold destinations departing from Bucharest are Madrid, Barcelona, London, Rome and Paris. If we just look at city breaks, which include plane ticket and three nights’ accommodation plus breakfast, then the most visited cities in Europe are Rome, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna.
Caelum Development starts construction works at ParkLake Plaza in Bucharest
How much does online tourism account for in the total sales of tourism packages? If we are referring only to the so-called OTA (Online Travel Agencies) market, I estimate that the market of online plane ticket reservations is somewhere between 6 and 8 percent of the total plane ticket market. However, growth is very high on this segment. Vola.ro, which has the most substantial share of the market, has grown by 300 percent since 2010.
Orange Romania posts EUR 241 mln in revenues in third quarter
otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
Irish developer Caelum Development has started construction works on the ParkLake Plaza project in the Titan area of Bucharest, the firm has announced. The developer has appointed Apolodor SRL and Edrasis - C. Psallidas SA to perform the excavation and piling works. Caelum is to appoint a general contractor who will start on site during this stage. The construction phase of the project is expected to last two and a half years. It comprises a gross leasable area of 67,000 sqm, hosting 200 retail units.
TELECOM Orange Romania’s revenues in the third quarter of the year totaled EUR 241 million, which represents a 3 percent growth on the second quarter. However, the company’s revenues decreased compared to Q3, 2010, when Orange posted revenues of EUR 246 million. In Europe, revenues were up 0.5 percent, after rising 0.3 percent in the second quarter. The trend in Romania saw a significant improvement, with the decline limited to
Agerpres
How do you plan to grow your footprint in Romania and abroad? We would like to be the main players in online tourism in Central and Eastern Europe. The next step is to open an office in Ukraine. The launch of the site is planned for Q1, 2012. We are still in discussions to find the optimum financing formula for this project, which may include attracting financing from investment funds. We are working on very many projects at the same time. The development of the IT team is one point of focus, even though this team is already sizeable. I can also say that we will launch a new product we have been working on for some time by the end of the year. Apart from that, we have an ambitious project for our flight product, to be launched in Q1 2012, as we want to redefine the way in which information is delivered to our clients.
Canned food manufacturer Fine Goods has announced that Elgeka Ferfelis has taken over the distribution for its Trei Surori brand. Elgeka Ferfelis is one of the largest FMCG distributors in Romania, having reported a EUR 72 million turnover for last year. The Trei Surori (Three Sisters) brand was launched in 2010 and is produced in Poland. Fine Goods has also announced that it will expand the Trei Surori product portfolio by acquiring a share of the production of Salconserv Medias, a Romanian canned food producer. Fine Goods was set up in 2009 as a Romanian-Polish joint venture with Polish meat producer Mispol.
IMAGE of the week King Mihai celebrates 90th birthday with first speech to Parliament in 70 years Romania's King Mihai delivered a speech to both chambers of Parliament on the occasion of his 90th birthday, and almost 70 years after he was forced to abdicate by Soviet-backed communists. King Mihai began his speech by stating, "We can't have a future without respecting our past," going onto add, "Romania has registered significant progress in the past two decades.” However, the king also expressed his concern that the old and the sick today have to endure humiliating treatment. King Mihai, born in 1921, is a descendant of the German Hohenzollern dynasty and a cousin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. He was due to attend a concert at the Opera House in Bucharest last week, at which representatives of royal houses across Europe were also expected. just 2.0 percent after a fall of 4.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.3 percent in the first quarter. At the end of September, Orange had 10,184,000 customers. On the mobile broadband segment the operator had 4.3 million clients, a 43 percent increase compared to the second quarter.
Huawei to invest EUR 200 mln in Romania by 2014 Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies will invest EUR 200 million in Romania by 2014, mainly in a design center in Bucharest and a national fiber optic backbone, announced the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. The Chinese company will invest EUR 200 million by 2014. The main projects into which the cash will be funneled are the inauguration of the Huawei European Design Center in the Pipera area, near Bucharest, which is scheduled to take place by February 2012, and the erection of a national fiber optic backbone in collaboration with Transelectrica, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, quoted by Mediafax. Previously, the manufacturer announced that it was planning to inaugurate another Huawei Global Support Center in
February 2012. This will be the Chinese company’s fourth global support center. The other three are located in China, India and Mexico.
WEEK in numbers
100 billion euros is the reduction in Greece’s debt, as decided at the latest European Council summit in Brussels
1,000 billion euros is the increase in the EU funds aimed at supporting states in financial difficulty
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
4 NEWS
NEWS in brief BANKING BCR reports 84.3 percent drop in profits after nine months BCR has reported a decline in net profit of 86.3 percent to EUR 16.1 million, in the first nine months of 2011. This was attributable to a decrease in net operating income and high levels of provisioning in corporate lending. The net operating income of the lender sank 11.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 749.1 million. This was owing to a 17.5 percent fall in net interest income to RON 2.38 billion in the first nine months of 2011. Net commission income slightly increased by 3.2 percent, reaching EUR 105.7 million at end-September. The volume of aggregated loans to customers (before provisions, according to IFRS standards) increased by 1.3 percent in the first nine months of 2011 to EUR 12.141 billion, mainly driven by corporate lending.
Provident Romania registers EUR 1.26 mln gross profit in Q3 Provident Financial Romania, a consumer credit provider, reported a gross profit of EUR 1.26 million (according to IFRS standards), in the third trimester of this year. In the same period, the company increased its client base by 21 percent, and the volume
of credit taken out has also risen by 17 percent, against the same period of 2010. Provident has opened four new offices in Suceava, Botosani, Alba Iulia and Turda. The level of investments over the last five years, when the company has been present in Romania, totals approximately EUR 100 million. In 2010, Provident invested EUR 25 million in extending its operations in northwest Romania, including Oradea. The IPF Group announced for Q3 a 10 percent hike in its customer base versus the same period of 2010, to 2.3 million.
PHARMA Romania’s pharmaceuticals consumption half EU average The average Romanian spends EUR 200 per year on pharmaceuticals, compared to an EU average of EUR 400, according to Dumitru Lupuleasa, president of the Pharmacists College in Romania. He added that the consumption of generic pharmaceuticals should increase, as Romania currently ranks third in Europe by mortality rate, with some diseases not being treated at all. Around 8 million Romanians suffer from heart related disease, according to Lupuleasa.
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
FINANCE
Romania ready to address short-term crisis danger – IMF
T
he Romanian economy has a positive, but not spectacular, outlook for the next year, according to Peter Harrold, country director for Romania at the World Bank. The statement was made during a two-day conference organized last week by the World Bank on Romania's economic recovery and growth. The event was attended by representatives of the local banking sector, the European Commission and the IMF. Harrold warned that economic growth would be accompanied by moderate price increases, but said that many of the key issues in the economy have been addressed in the last three years. GDP will increase by 1.5 to 1.7 percent this year. Romania has had to make dramatic changes in the last few years in order to remain up-to-date with payments and this was done with great success, he added. However, the World Bank representative believes that a different growth pattern has to be sought for Romania, one that will prove to be more sustainable than the cheap credit growth that was recorded between 2007 and 2008. The export-based expansion that Romania experienced in 2010 may also represent a weakness next year, as the traditional export destinations are trying to keep public finances under control through austerity measures. Jeffrey Franks, the head of the IMF Mission in Romania, also believes that Romania’s situation is better than three years ago, with the country proving able to close the current account deficit gap from 14 percent to 4 percent in 2011. In addition, the budgetary deficit will reach 4.4 percent of GDP this year, and should be re-
duced further to 3 percent next year, according to Franks, who noted that Romania is in a better position to address shortterm challenges stemming from the European sovereign debt crisis. The IMF representative commented that Romania has economic buffers in place but further progress is necessary. The National Bank Reserves are high, above EUR 30 million, and the banking sector has exceeded the minimum capital requirement of 8 percent, averaging 14 percent. The risk premium for Romania is quite low, given that the CDS spread for the country reached 377bp (base points) last week, according to Andreea Paul Vass, economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Emil Boc. She added that Romania had had four quarters of economic growth, and posted the highest export rate in its history last year, at EUR 37.3 billion. On the CDS market, Romania has 377bp (base points), and is faring better than other debt-ridden economies in Western Europe. However, the country is lagging behind on labor productivity, which is 41.7 percent of the EU average. Vass said that Romania’s public debt is 31 percent of GDP, while the EU average is 80.2 percent. In addition, GDP per capita increased from EUR 10,400 in 2007 to EUR 11,000 last year. Franks acknowledged Romania’s efforts to maintain macro-economic stability but said that insufficient progress has been registered in tackling the inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This could act "as a ball dragging the economy down", he warned. ∫ Ovidiu Posirca
FINANCE
Eurozone bank recapitalization ‘shouldn’t affect local liquidities’
J
ose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said after a meeting with the Romanian president, Traian Basescu, that the recapitalization of banks in the Eurozone should not affect the flux of liquidities in Romania. “Mother banks will continue to ensure liquidities for Romanian branches,” said Barroso, quoted by Mediafax. “I also agreed with President Basescu – this is a matter we have discussed in the European Council and today we have gone more in detail – that plans to restore confidence in the European Union banking sector should not affect the credit flow in Romania. We are talking to the ministers of finance in order to make sure that all national banking supervisors work together under the coordination of the European Banking Authority. The national supervisors will play a critical role in this process: they will insure that the Euro area parent banks continue to provide capital support for their Romanian affiliates if needed, as committed during the last Vienna initiative meeting on Romania in March 2011,” Barroso said in a statement after his talks with Basescu. The two politicians met a day before the
Euro Summit on October 26, where a set of measures to address the current tensions in the financial markets and restore confidence were decided upon. It was determined that Greece’s public debt should be reduced to 120 percent of GDP by 2020. A voluntary contribution was agreed upon with private creditors: on notional Greek debt held by them, the nominal discount will be 50 percent. Eurozone member states will contribute up to EUR 30 billion to this private sector involvement (PSI) package. A new EU-IMF multiannual program for Greece, which will be put in place at the end of 2011, will provide up to EUR 100 billion. The summit agreed that the resources of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) should be enlarged without extending the guarantees provided by member states. Around EUR 1 trillion could thus be leveraged in order to create a "firewall" against contagion from the debt crisis. The EFSF has a lending capacity of EUR 440 billion, with about EUR 250 billion available once aid to Greece, Ireland and Portugal has been taken into account. This capacity will now be boosted up to fivefold. ∫ Staff
NEWS 5
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
6 ENTREPRENEUR BUSINESS AGENDA October 31 09:30 Sind Tour Trading will organize a press conference to mark the launch of a new investment program in Baile Herculane and to present its financial results for the first three quarters at Ibis Gara de Nord Hotel. By invitation only.
A platform for growth With a market share of 20 percent in 2010, eight bias points in Romania, three in Bulgaria and one in the Republic of Moldova, Stefan Ponea intends to achieve a 30 percent market share on the regional market – Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia – next year.
COMPANY PROFILE Industrial Access
14:00 Pretuieste Viata Foundation will organize a press conference to mark one year of activity for the MOM UP project which offers counseling to mothers in difficult situations, at the Romanian Business School, on the premises of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. By invitation only.
2010 turnover (estimated): EUR 4.6 million 2011 turnover (H1): EUR 3.3 million Number of employees: 40 Initial investment: USD 3,000 Estimated investment at end of June 2011: EUR 3.6 million
November 2 ∫EVENT 09:00 Spearhead will organize a press conference to mark the launch of its partnership with SGI at Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel. A conference on high performance computing will follow. By invitation only.
11:00 The National Peasant Museum will organize a press conference to mark the launch of an EU-funded project on e-Education solutions at the Peasant Club. By invitation only. 12:00 AstraZance will organize a press conference to mark the launch of a new healthcare education program at the Bucharest Central Library. By invitation only. November 3 ∫EVENT 09:00 Business Review organizes the second Focus on Telecom. Details at www.business-review.ro/events. November 3 09:00 UPC will organize a business breakfast to present its financial results for the third semester and future trends in the industry at Pullman Hotel. Severina Pascu, CEO UPC Romania, will attend. By invitation only. November 5 08:00 Olympus Dairy Industry will organize an event to mark the launch of a new dairy factory in Halchiu, Brasov County. By invitation only.
Photo: Laurentiu Obae
09:00 Business Review organizes the 11th Realty 2011 at Willbrook Platinum. Details at www.businessreview.ro/events.
Mobile man: Stefan Ponea’s firm has moved into mobile aerial working platforms
∫ ANDA SEBESI For Stefan Ponea, CEO and managing partner at Industrial Access, a company specialized in providing mobile aerial working platforms, the entrepreneurial path started in 2005. At the age of 28, he and three associates decided to set up their own business. The initial investment was about USD 3,000 and the idea came from Ponea himself. They launched the venture with two junior workers because there were few specialists in this field in Romania at that time and some of them had already been recruited by an Italian player. Ponea’s educational and professional background helped him a lot in building Industrial Access, as he had taken courses at the marketing faculty at ASE Bucharest and in psycho-sociology at Spiru Haret University. The entrepreneur also worked from 1997 to 2005 at Bomax, a group of companies, where he rose from PC operator to division manager. “I worked in various departments such as sales, logistics, financial-accountancy and restructuring-development. When I was hired, back in 1997, the company had five employees. Eight years later it posted a turnover of EUR 30 million and had 450 employees,” remembers Ponea.
The idea to set up Industrial Access came in 2002 when he had the opportunity to sell equipment used to work at great depth. “That importer wanted a margin of about 100 percent. I tried to negotiate but finally I decided to import directly without any middleman. Things came naturally: research on the internet, identifying international producers, contacts, comparative analysis between technical and commercial conditions, a distribution contract, certification for introducing these pieces of equipment on the market, then the first sale. All these were part of the first stage of the project,” says the managing partner. The company earned over EUR 2 million from selling equipment and a profit margin of about 30 percent in the first year of this activity. Ponea adds that Bomax’s activity extended in time from selling nacelles to industrial trucks, excavators and generators. But be believes the really valuable idea came in the spring of 2003 when he decided to rent equipment at a margin of 200 percent a year. “Renting construction equipment had a better chance of future development on the medium and long term than sales activity,” he says. But the CEO of the Bomax group did not want to invest in this type of business scheme and
decided to stop Ponea and his team from doing it in 2005. “Despite this, the most important thing for me was that I managed to leave something behind me: the division of construction equipment was still working and we all created a market for renting mobile aerial working equipment,” says Ponea. Asked why he decided to set up this type of firm, the managing partner says that he had always wanted to do things that no one had done before, break new ground, optimize processes and do his job perfectly. “To rent construction equipment in general and mobile aerial working platforms in particular offered me great potential for development and I fully benefited from it. Currently, Industrial Access is the sole representative and distributor for such equipment in Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria,” says Ponea. One of the most difficult moments the business has faced so far was when Ponea’s former associates chose not to respect their investment and financial agreements and asked for dividends, jeopardizing the future development of his company. “But this persuaded a serious investor, BAF, to buy the majority stake, creating the premises to propel the company to regional level. BAF was the best and most reliable solution for Industrial Access to develop further and has provided the necessary resources for the past four years,” says the businessman. He adds that if he started another company he would be more prudent in choosing his business partners. Furthermore, one of the major challenges his firm is facing is that the market is permanently changing, while information rapidly becomes outdated. “In such conditions if you don’t act instantly, you may lose the deal,” says Ponea. And this seems to be very important as the competition in this field is fierce. According to him, the market evolved from two-three players in 2003 to over 40 at the beginning of the current crisis. “Despite this, a few companies have gone out of business, and it is likely that others will follow suit by the end of this year,” he predicts. ∫
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
FMCG
NEWS 7 RETAIL
Agricola Bacau to invest EUR 3 Shares in bankrupt retailer mln in expanding retail network Flamingo to be delisted
Courtesy of Agricola Bacau
Meaty business: Agricola is expanding
R
omanian meat producer Agricola Bacau has announced plans to expand its private store network to 170 units by the end of 2013, with a total investment of some EUR 3 million. The firm hopes the expansion will enable it to cash 30 percent of total sales through its chain of private outlets, up from 17 percent now. At the end of 2010, the Agricola Bacau group of firms had 43 shops, and about 22 new units will be added this year. In the capital, the producer has 10 stores and intends to boost the number to about 40. Existing stores will be redesigned with a new
concept put together by French company Ideasie. The average investment in the redesign of a store is EUR 15,000, not including the refrigeration equipment. “Expanding our own store network is a strategic objective that enables us to meet our development targets. It is a cash source but also an important image booster (…),” said Grigore Horoi, president of Agricola Bacau. The stores also enable the firm to sell its entire product portfolio. About 10 to 20 percent of the merchandise in the stores comes from other producers. Agricola Bacau estimates a turnover of up to RON 440 million for 2011, 7 percent higher than 2010. For poultry it estimates a 15 percent hike, 10 percent for pre-cooked and ready-meal products, another 10 percent for dry salami and boiled and smoked products and flat figures for eggs. For 2011 the group has budgeted total investments of about EUR 7 million, Horoi previously told BR: EUR 3.2 million in poultry production, EUR 600,000 in raw dry salami, EUR 500,000 in expanding the network of own stores and another EUR 2.5 million in modernizing the egg-producing farms. Investments in development make up more than 75 percent of the total investment budget and the remainder will go towards cutting costs and covering legal compliance costs. ∫ Simona Bazavan
S
hares in Flamingo International, the former mother company of Flanco, will be taken off the stock exchange after the Bucharest Court ruled in May that Flamingo had become bankrupt and would be dissolved. The decision to delist the company was made by the administration board of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Flamingo shares have not been traded since December 2009, when the company applied for insolvency. The firm was listed on the stock exchange in 2005 when it was evaluated at EUR 60 million. In 2007, Flamingo took over Flanco, a home appliance and IT product retailer, which is now the only company in the group that has survived. Two years later, after the onset of the crisis left Flamingo struggling, businessman Dan Adamescu purchased a significant stake in the firm. The main shareholders in Flamingo were Dragos Cinca, founder of the company, with a 25 percent stake, Dan Adamescu with a 40 percent stake, and Alexandru Ion Tiriac with 5 percent of the shares. The remaining 30 percent stake was owned by pension funds, mutual funds and foreign investment funds. During the insolvency process, Flanco was reorganized and managed to attract Asesoft International, which is run
by businessmen Sebastian Ghita and Iulian Stanciu, as investor. Flanco posted a turnover of EUR 65 million in the first nine months of the year. For the whole of 2011, the retailer estimates it will reach a turnover of EUR 110 million and a net profit of EUR 1 million. Next year, the firm forecasts it will achieve a EUR 140 million turnover. Flanco stores have approximately 1.3 million customers annually. The average value of a purchase is RON 400, including VAT. The retailer’s network will number 78 outlets, with a total surface area of 42,000 sqm, in over 50 cities. Flanco currently has 800 employees, of whom 200 joined the company this year, working in its network of stores and at its headquarters. The retailer estimates that the electro and IT retail market will reach EUR 1.1 billion this year. Next year, the market is predicted to grow to EUR 1.25 billion. When the insolvency was approved, Flamingo had total debts of EUR 30 million, of which EUR 17 million was owed to ING Bank. The last transaction involving Flamingo shares on the stock exchange took place on December 14, 2009. The price was RON 0.0185 per share. The retailer was evaluated at that time at EUR 14.4 million. ∫ Otilia Haraga
8 INTERVIEW
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
Octagon fits to new shape of market The poor prospects of the Romanian real estate market have led local firm Octagon Contracting & Engineering to expand its operations abroad. Alexandros Ignatiadis, managing director and co-founder of the firm, told BR about the company’s plans for its recently established subsidiary in Iraq as well as its latest investments in Romania.
CV Alexandros Ignatiadis
∫ SIMONA BAZAVAN What projects are you presently working on both in Romania and abroad? This year we have signed four new contracts in Romania totaling approximately EUR 2 million. The first is an office building in Bucharest on Aviatorilor Blvd. Here we were a subcontractor for Bog’Art, executing the building’s infrastructure. It is a five-story building with three underground floors. The second project was signed with Aktor Group as subcontractor and the beneficiary was the National Roads Administration. Octagon executed consolidation works on 7 km of road between Drobeta Turnu Severin and Lugoj. The third is a residential project in Constanta. We have also signed an addendum to the OMV Petrom contract for the Petrom Brazi Power Station for the construction of secondary roads and platforms. As part of this project, Octagon has carried out structural works for 42 buildings and sections of the power station, installations and architectural works. At the end of 2010, Octagon was appointed specialist contractor for the Hermes Business Campus office building developed by the Belgian Atenor Group in Bucharest. The EUR 5 million contract covered geotechnical works.
Do you plan to extend on new markets? Our expansion outside Romania was a consequence of the economic crisis hitting the country and the downturn of the local real estate market. Until 2009 we de-
pared to investing in a new building. If we were to build a new building on the same plot of land, with a similar architecture, we would require about half of the money needed for the renovation and consolidation of the old building. Photo: Laurentiu Obae
How attractive is the Romanian real estate market compared to other regional markets where you have projects? For starters one should differentiate between these regional markets. Among them are countries that are EU members like Romania, Greece and Croatia. There are also those that are hoping to join in such as Serbia and Albania but these have a long road ahead. And there is Turkey which is a unique market compared to the rest. In Turkey, the macroeconomic context, growth and development rate are completely different and one cannot compare it with the others. Romania is more attractive than other countries in the Balkan region because of its size – it is a larger market. However, when considering the growth perspectives, it is not attractive as there is no demand, from private investors or from the state. To sum up, right now Romania doesn’t have growth perspectives for reasons that relate both to the world economy – and especially the related domestic governmental policies – as well as the economy in general. Greece is also unattractive due to the present economic situation. Albania, Serbia, and the rest of the countries in the Balkan region are less attractive markets as they are smaller and more fragmented.
2005 to date – Main shareholder (84.1 percent) and member of the board of directors at Octagon Contracting & Engineering January to June 2005 – Managing director of Global Emerging Property Fund, Bucharest 2001 to December 2004 – Member of the board of directors of Diekat ATE, Athens July 1995 to December 2004 – Managing director and vice-president of BoD of Diekat Construct, Bucharest
livered projects only in Romania. The works we delivered involving residential and office buildings in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey haven’t had a significant share in our profit but we plan to have a more and more significant presence on external markets. There will be a tendency to increase exposure on foreign markets, especially Iraq, as a consequence of the slow evolution of the Romanian real estate market. What can you tell us about the company’s subsidiary in Iraq? We haven’t signed any contracts in Iraq so far as we set up the subsidiary there only recently. This year we will focus on registering the subsidiary and establishing relations with potential clients. We hope that it will become operational by the end of 2012. The estimated investment for the first year will be EUR 300,000. The projects we are looking for in Iraq are the same as on other markets, meaning general contracting or subcontracting for geotechnical constructions. We hope than in two years’ time, 70 percent of our turnover will be generated by the operations in Iraq. Which of the segments of the local real estate market has been the worst affected in the past couple of years and where have you seen recovery this year? The residential market has been obviously the most affected by the economic crisis, followed by office, retail and infrastructure – the least affected. This year we have witnessed a slight pickup in
the office and retail segments following direct investments made by some retailers and new brands entering the market, but also because works on some shopping malls that had been postponed or sold to new owners have resumed. In 2012 we expect a strong recovery for infrastructure but not so much in the sense of starting new projects. We will see an intensity of auctions and contracting which will also be boosted by the fact that there will be elections in 2012. Do you see demand for restauration and consolidation works on historical buildings increasing? This segment will grow for two reasons. First of all, the absorption of EU funds for such projects will go up. Secondly, many of the existing old buildings are closing their time limit and there is the risk of collapse which can be avoided through renovation and consolidation. We expect a gradual and constant growth of this segment over the next four to five years. Such projects are complex and hard to execute considering that there aren’t many people left who know old construction techniques. And many of these buildings have to be renovated using the technique used when they were built. Also, these works are expensive and it is hard to estimate the total investment from the beginning because as works advance, one can discover structural problems that weren’t obvious in the first phase and which generate additional costs. Usually the costs are double com-
What is the company’s strategy for 2012 ? Next year we don’t plan to expand on new markets but we intend to consolidate our local business and continue our efforts in Iraq. As for new investments, Octagon has become this autumn the main shareholder of Comat Electro logistics base which covers 20,000 sqm of industrial halls. The investment was EUR 2.5 million. We plan to invest another EUR 8 to10 million in expanding the industrial park with new production halls and warehouses as well as constructing an office building for those working there. We estimate that works will start in late 2012, early 2013. What were the results reported in 2010 and so far this year? Last year Octagon reported a turnover increase of 39 percent, taking the total to EUR 14.3 million. The profit was EUR 117,000. In the first semester of this year we reported a EUR 6.5 million turnover and EUR 324,000 profit. The turnover objective for 2012 is EUR 20 million. Why did you decide to set up the company six years ago and what kind of services do you offer? Octagon Contracting & Consulting executes special geotechnical works – diaphragm walls, slurry walls, bored piles, micropiles, grouting, anchors, sheet piles – general contracting, concrete structure works, steel works and restoration and consolidation works for historical buildings. I set up the company in 2005 with my partner Paschalis Paganias, after we both had long professional experience in various executive director positions with the Greek construction companies, Diekat and Themeliodomi.
simona.bazavan@business-review.ro
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FOCUS 9
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www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
Publishers keep their edge as content migrates to mobile applications With the explosion of sales of the iPhone and iPad, as well as smartphones and tablets in general, an increasing number of users are getting their information by accessing publications from their mobile devices. Even though the penetration is rather limited, media experts seem to agree that none of the media groups can afford not to offer their products in a mobile-device friendly format, as they risk missing out on an appealing segment of the market. ∫ OTILIA HARAGA News reading is the second most popular activity on an iPad , with 61 percent of users getting up-to-date on the latest headlines on their device. Only exceeded by games (84 percent), it outranks social networking (56 percent), accessing music (51 percent), reading books (46 percent) and shopping (42 percent), according to a survey by Google Admob. The global market for digital newspapers will skyrocket from USD 96 million estimated for this year to nearly USD 2 billion forecast for 2015. This translates into an annual combined aggregated growth rate (CAGR) of 84.7 percent, according to the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook Report 2011-2015 published by PwC. The PwC report indicates that in Romania, estimated revenues from digital newspapers publishing will be no higher than USD 2 million in 2015, “which may not be very appealing to editors,” Gabi Mustea, director of consultancy for management at PwC Romania, tells BR. “The explosion of smartphones, tablets and e-book readers, combined with the increase of mobile internet connections’ speed and affordability, will definitely lead to an increase in the number of people consuming media on such devices,” says Mustea. “The efforts made by mobile device hardware and software developers to offer media portals, allowing not only easy access, but also timely delivery of the digital newspapers along with the hard copy publication and in a mobilefriendly format, are also facilitating the growth,” he adds. Keeping up with the increasing number of mobile devices and the emerging demands of consumers who use them, more international publishers are coming up with their own applications. Among the flagship publications mentioned by Szabo Erik, deputy CEO of Carnation Group, are CNN and Sanoma. In Romania, two of the local publishers who have invested in this area are MediaPro and Adevarul. “What is indeed spectacular is the interaction that these applications allow – the video content, connection to social networks and the simple interaction with content that so far has been static and all of a sudden becomes tailored to one’s present needs,” Szabo tells BR. He adds that global online players such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have already developed such applications for mobile phones and tablets and have optimized their websites for mobile phones. “There are already websites, even in Romania, that do this; HotNews is a good example,” he says. Another such instance of a publisher that has launched applications to facili-
News on the move: mobile content is making the headlines
tate the access of iPad and iPhone users to its content is the Intact media group. Gazeta Sporturilor, a group title, launched at the end of May a special edition for the iPad, which has been downloaded by over 15,000 people since its launch. The application can be downloaded from the website of Gazeta Sporturilor, Gsp.ro. The edition for the iPad can be downloaded from the Apple store. The application is being distributed free of charge. Approximately 1.5 million monthly visits are made by users from their mobile phones, of which 450,000 visits from the iPhone and 100,000 visits from the iPad. The daily editions can be downloaded only via subscription of 1, 3 or 12 months, or by payment per edition. Each edition offers promotional space for advertisers. The total cost of developing the applications, which also includes the promotion, was approximately EUR 250,000, Robert Popescu, director of development at Convergent Media, which edits Gazeta Sporturilor and GSP.ro, tells BR. The project took six months to complete. “The revenues that result from using these applications for publishers are small, but prospects are very good even on the short and medium term,” says
Popescu. The main issue is to convince the ever increasing number of people who consume the content on these devices to pay these services, he says. Which raises two questions: how can publishers capitalize on these applications? And secondly, are they worth it? To answer the first question, BR talked to a developer of such applications. Sebastian Vaduva, CEO of Appscend, the company that produced the applications for the iPhone and iPad platforms for TVR Info and 0-100.ro, a partner content site featured on HotNews.ro. He says the two applications were developed on the company’s own platform Appscend. This platform is especially devised for publishers so that it brings the time required to develop these applications down from several months to a few days. Moreover, he says this platform also offers all the instruments for administrating and valuing the content money-wise. The applications 0.100.ro and TVR Info have been downloaded by over 15,000 users. They can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, available on any device with iOS such as iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The process of developing an appli-
cation is similar to the process of developing any software product, says Vaduva. One starts by setting the targets that the publisher has in sight and that should be met by the respective application, Next comes the part when the interface of the application is constructed, which includes graphic elements, colors, images as well as the structure in itself. There follows the part regarding the inter-connection of the data basis, the CMS used by the publisher with the mobile application so that the content on the mobile device can be instantly updated when new articles are uploaded onto the website. “The most common price for an application for the iPhone or iPad in Apple App store is USD 0.99 but most publishers prefer to distribute the applications free of charge so that the number of downloads is considerably higher. In order to get revenues, publishers can adopt alternative methods such as inserting advertising or selling the premium content by using In-App-Purchases, the Apple service dedicated to acquiring virtual goods within mobile applications,” says Vaduva. The PwC report forecasts an annual CAGR of 14.9 percent for digital publication advertising between this year and 2015 in Romania, as opposed to 8.4 percent for printed advertising. The estimated annual CAGR for mobile advertising is 24.6 percent. The revenues will however remain low, at approximately USD 5 million in 2015, jointly from mobile advertising and advertising included in digital publications. “There is more than the classical mobile internet to smartphones and tablets. Users of these devices have understood they must pay more for various services. They are ready to pay USD 1.2 for an application, for content, which they did not do on their old PC. So these developments can be better valued than classical internet,” says Szabo. The first step for publishers in capitalizing on this direction is paid access for added services or advertising space within applications. Still, turning digital content into revenue “remains a challenge,” and the market is “less than attractive,” Mustea says. “Successful examples of newspapers or magazines available in digital format, at global level, for paid subscription only, are far from the rule. However, providing the publications in a mobile friendly format may be an incentive for the consumers to pay for them. One thing is certain, not being present in the mobile ecosystem will do more harm than good to the media companies.”
otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
Romanian Post pushes the envelope On October 17, the Romanian Post launched the MoneyPost currency transfer service, its latest step in developing new business lines. President and GM Dumitru Daniel Neagoe shares with BR his insight into the future outlook. contracts, for example with G4S, UTIRomprest or Blue Air. Aditionally, financial expenses for the first half of the year are 27 percent lower than the budget for 2011, and total expenses are RON 20 million lower than stipulated. In fact, the Romanian Post has already announced the improvement of its economic-financial situation and is back in profit as of August. The profit generated in August 2011 was approximately EUR 138,651 (RON 600,000), and the financial results show the trend will be positive in the coming months. Courtesy of Romanian Post
∫ OTILIA HARAGA How is the Romanian Post’s restructuring process going? The restructuring process involves the reorganization of the postal network as well as the strategic restructuring of the Post’s activity. The restructuring of the postal network is nearing an end, cutting down the number of post offices, and thus respecting the commitments taken before the IMF, and cutting down on the management positions by modifying the organisational chart. The strategic restructuring on the other hand is in full swing, being a continuous process that aims to reposition the company on the competitive market where it has its activities. What is the Romanian Post’s strategy to maximize revenues and cut losses? The Romanian Post will continue the strategic projects initiated ever since 2010 to increase revenues: selling general insurance policies at its desks, selling lottery tickets, developing electronic commerce, the informatization of the POS (point-ofsale) network, which leads to more rapid transactions and lower costs, and the relaunch of the fast courier service. This will be re-launched with a new price policy, plus new added-value services for corporate clients and individuals, which will lead to growth of 30 percent in the number of clients and revenues. The estimated gross profit is EUR 540,740 (over RON 2.3 million). After the deduction of profit tax it will be minus EUR 187,180 (minus RON 810,000). Worth mentioning, however, is this: the expenditure on services delivered by third parties in Q1, 2011, was reduced by 12 percent, not only compared to the same period of 2010, but also compared to the budget of revenues and expenses approved by the government for the current year. Moreover, this also involved the cancelling, postponement or renegotiation of certain
Are there ongoing discussions to attract an investor for the Romanian Post? As has been announced, postal operators from Belgium, Austria and Germany have already sought information and public data from the Romanian Post. They are the first to have made this step, but any national postal operator could ask for such information. What of the institution’s plans to found the Romanian Post Insurance Firm and the Romanian Post Bank? The management is formulating plans for the founding of the two units. At the moment, the projects are in the analysis stage, which is being carried out by an internal commission especially set up for this purpose. At the end of the analysis, there will be an assessment of the outlook, risks and benefits, the necessary resources, the length of the process as well as the legal stipulations that need to be observed. These are large-scale projects meant to optimize the logistic structure of the labor force and attract capital, given the fact the two economic entities will be active in the financial sector. How many branches does the Romanian Post have and what is the target number? At the end of September 2011, the postal network numbered 5,846 post offices, 4,854 in rural areas and 992 in towns and cities, as a result of the decision to merge some. The final target, according to the letter of intent agreed between the IMF and the Romanian government, is to cut the number of units from 7,100 at the end of 2010 (in January 2011 there were 7,033) to approximately 5,800 by December 2011. How many employees does the Romanian Post have? How many have been made redundant or relocated to other units? The Romanian Post registered an average number of 33,377 employees in September. During the first stage of the network reorganization, 70 employees were made redundant. The target of the company’s management is to make the internal structure and postal network flexible and efficient, not to make employees redundant.
otilia.haraga@business-review.ro
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www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
PHILANTHROPY
Protecting the Carpathian Eden Wild Carpathia is an astonishing documentary produced by the European Nature Trust about the beauty of the native forest land covering a large part of the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. Paul Lister, founder of the trust, talks to Business Review about his philanthropic work focused on Romania – “Europe’s Garden of Eden”, as he calls it.
Is it your money, or did you raise it? It’s my money, through the European Nature Trust that I set up in 2001, and private money. We’ve split it, because we couldn’t justify being totally philanthropic.
not in far out places, like Africa, South America or Asia. I’ve known the Scottish natural heritage since I was 20. What I learned in Scotland is that once man has intervened, you never stop intervening. In 2003 I bought 100 sqkm of land in Scotland and I’ve been restoring that. I’ve planted 800,000 trees, bringing back lost species like wild boars, doing all sorts of different projects, trying to bring some life into a dead zone. So let’s call Scotland a dead zone and let’s call Romania the Eden of Europe. It’s about time that the people of Romania really got it: rather than try to make shortterm capital gains out of a standing forest, you need to start thinking about creating an income out of a standing forest. There are many models around the world to copy, and the route that Romania is possibly going down is the industrial West, following all the capitalism and democracy and all the greed it involves. If one can just take a macro-view of the position, look at the rest of the world, what a mess we are in, why would you want to follow that? Romania has got so much wealth that needs to be correctly managed.
What is the vision of the foundation? I’ve traveled in over 100 countries and I wanted to get involved in conservation, but
So you say it’s a problem of management? I would say it’s a problem of modeling. You have to choose the right model, and I
∫ ANCA IONITA What are you trying to achieve with this film? It’s a communication tool with a big reach – 110 countries and 20 languages. We are hoping to show people all over the world how amazing the state of play in a country like Romania is and to be proud of it. Romania is a unique corner of Europe and people have to understand that. We, in the West, have done a wholesale job of destroying all of our forests, with maybe 1 percent left. Your country still has 25 percent of its original native forest left. The film is also intended to boost tourism. We are not going to make profits; I’m more a philanthropist than a businessman. If I can recover half the money that I’ve invested in this project, I’ll feel more than lucky.
would choose Costa Rica as a model for ecotourism. You go to Costa Rica on a promise you’ll see wild forest nature. They have developed a whole industry around that. The focus of the foundation that I run with Hugh Fullerton-Smith is Scotland and Romania, to show the complete two opposite ends of Europe in terms of environment: one is a soggy desert and the other is the garden of Eden. I flew over the Carpathians yesterday, which is the equivalent of the Amazon in Europe, but many people don’t realize it. Look at the forest down there, what’s living in the forests, at the rural communities that can exist within it. You could almost say that the Carpathian Mountains and the part of Transylvania with fortified churches could become a national park. But the image of Romania at the moment is such that people don’t look at it as a place to come and visit. And that’s what we have to change, the surface image.
communist regime and the lack of industrialization that the forest is still standing! When you cut a forest down, it will never re-grow how it used to be, never, never. You never regenerate a forest like it used to be. No way! We all know it regenerates in Romania rather quickly, but one species of trees will take over, while the original forest is a mosaic of trees. I agree with proper management. One shouldn’t hear the sound of a chainsaw, no hunting. It’s nature! The film is, as I said, primarily educational and to encourage the tourism business. The foundation is hoping that some of the businesspeople that we have invited to the screening tonight will want to engage with some of the projects we have for Romania. We are looking for corporations but we have a lot of private support. I’ve been fundraising from quite wealthy people and a few people have donated lots of money!
There are other beautiful parts of Romania, like the Danube Delta. There is a lot more to see and if this film goes well, next year we will try to do one on the Danube Delta and maybe Maramures. We are obsessed with skiing, with golf, which are not environmentally sensitive. And I think everything in moderation.
What kind of projects do you have? We are currently buying land, pristine forest and areas of land and making them contiguous to create a national park that will ultimately be given back to the state. We want to build a cottage industry around the forest. I would like to buy half a dozen double-decker busses, fit them out to be miniforests and drive them to schools in Romania, for school trips in the forest. Another initiative is a computer game based on Farmville, which has already raised GDP 400,000 pounds. It will be all about Romania, and we are planning to launch it next May.
When did you shoot the film? This May. We had fantastic weather conditions, warm, mostly sunshine. I’ve been coming to Romania since 1982, but only since mid 1990 for nature conservation. I was in business before. I was in the furniture business. I was sourcing furniture in days when the Romanian government had very strict controls. Timber would have been brought out by horses, and there would have been 6-7 cubic meters a year out of a hectare. I used to ask for solid oak tables. They would never give in, so in my advertising I couldn’t say solid oak, and thank goodness I didn’t! And thanks to the
anca.ionita@business-review.ro Wild Carpathia premieres on the Travel Channel Romania on 30 October and will be repeated over the following days; see www.travelchanneltv.ro for transmission times
Last great wilderness: Lister’s film highlights the importance of preserving nature
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
CITY13
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Lies, more lies and deception
Photo: Laurentiu Obae
Not doing very well: our reviewer found that all was not as it seemed at this eatery
Wellness Cuisine, Progresului nr 2, 031 432 8783 MICHAEL BARCLAY A wiser man than I once wrote “how many truths make up a lie?” The answer: “It takes a multitude of truths to embellish a lie and thereby give it credibility.” These words hold true in the civilized world, but clearly the author had never visited Romania. No smokescreen of truths are necessary to hide a lie here in the world’s capital of inyour-face lying, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in the restaurant industry. So walk with me through a menu of lies in the absurdly named Wellness Cuisine restaurant. It is situated in vibrant Drumul Taberei and the décor is perfectly acceptable. But those are the only good words I have to say about this utterly stupid place. So let me disabuse you of any notion that (as its name implies) this place offers you healthily designed food. The name is a pure deception. The menu is designed to impress you with a total of 115 choices of average Mediterranean food, which is simply 115 ways of the House making a fool of itself 115 times! So Blondie ordered a ‘classic Caesar salad’ at RON 18. “What the hell is this?” she cried as it arrived. “It is nothing more than cheap lettuce with Parmesan, an unidentifiable sauce (probably from a supermarket bottle) and toast.” It was NOT a Caesar, it was a lie. It should have contained ‘cos lettuce’ (it did not) and a dressing made from warmed egg yolk, crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcester sauce, and Parmesan with croutons fried in garlic oil. Oh give me a break! It was nothing of the sort. Having established that our first dish was misnamed – even though all of the correct ingredients are readily available in Romania – we gave them a second chance with a further salad of ‘smoked salmon, with avocado, crispy capers, honey, lime juice, coriander and lettuce’ at RON 30. The description was yet another lie, as there was no honey, crispy capers, lime or coriander. These people are taking the piss out of the customers, and the evidence was before us in the form of an empty restaurant, devoid of diners at peak lunch hour! But let us get back to a far from amusing comedy of errors. Warm toast had mysteriously arrived at our table. We had not ordered it, and we eventually paid for it on the bill. So I reached for the olive oil to make an oil and toast dip. But beyond all belief, the brand-
ed olive oil bottle was old and its label was frayed with use and age. The House had refilled the bottle and written on it, by hand, a new expiry date. Was that gesture naïve, mean, stupid or just unprofessional? I think it was all four! Next I ordered a ‘quesadilla’ – a simple corn flour tortilla (pancake) filled with cheese and flavored with fresh coriander. The whole point of this so-called Mexican dish is the flavor of the coriander and salsa. But there was NONE! Instead, the kitchen substituted coriander with parsley. Furthermore, there was none of the promised jalapeno peppers, and, worse still, the menu stated that it came with a spicy ‘salsa’. This should simply be fresh chopped tomato, onion and hot pepper. But no. The ‘salsa’ was nothing more than supermarket ketchup. More lies. The dish was awful and we could not eat it. It was now becoming apparent that everything on the menu was going to be compromised in favor of the House. But nothing could prepare me for the absolute outrage the House threw in my face when I ordered ‘chicken in Roquefort sauce’. In case you do not know it, Roquefort is the world’s most expensive blue cheese. It is distinguished by its salty, yet strong flavor. There were no such characteristics in my sauce, which was virtually flavorless. So did they use a tiny Roquefort or an alternative blue cheese? By this point I didn’t care any more. But Blondie was still hungry and gave them a last chance by ordering a simple ‘guacamole’. How could they possibly get this dish wrong, as it should be nothing more than avocado and lime juice, mushed with the back of a fork. But no! They incorrectly put the avocado in a blender, and in order to give the dish added weight and substance added tomato, cream and onion. Yuk! By this point I couldn’t take any more of this nonsense. But they had two sexy dishes on the menu based upon mussels and clams (vongole) respectively. I considered buying one of them to take home and give to Blondie’s cat. But we were informed that all the shellfish was frozen, as you cannot buy shellfish fresh in Bucharest. Another lie, they should just go to Metro and get it fresh. You can perfectly defrost white fish, but NEVER freeze shellfish as you lose all of the juice and flavor. Ask any cat, and it will agree with me. So Blondie’s cat went hungry, and after leaving Wellness, so did I!
michaelbarclay32@gmail.com
14 IN TOUCH
www.business-review.ro Business Review | October 31 - November 6, 2011
FILM REVIEW
Crulic – The Path to Beyond
Haunting: Crulic’s is a powerful tale
∫ DEBBIE STOWE Directed by: Anca Damian Starring: Vlad Ivanov (voice) On at: Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Grand Cinema Digiplex Baneasa, Hollywood Multiplex Claudiu Crulic was 33 when he died of self-imposed starvation in a Polish prison in 2007. He had lost about half his body weight and resembled a man twice his age. These sobering facts are relayed in
the first few minutes of Anca Damian’s animated documentary. The film then goes back in time to Claudiu’s childhood, weaving family photographs and biographical details with quirky, almost childlike, hand drawn images. The effect is discomfiting, the scenes at once brutally real and unreal. After an unremarkable upbringing, Crulic finds himself – like many of his compatriots – trying to cobble together a living on the fringes of European society. He is arrested for the theft of a Polish judge’s wallet. Though the Romanian had been accused of a similar crime before, he protested vehemently that he had been in Milan, not Poland, on the day of this theft, something the evidence appears to corroborate. But as his file is batted back and forth between various uninterested authorities, Crulic begins to slip through the cracks in the system, and embarks upon a hunger strike to draw attention to his case. The theme of one individual up against an uncaring, impersonal bureaucracy has strong echoes of Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr Lazarescu, the difference being that while the fictional pensioner Mr Lazarescu was quite likely to have died regardless of the treatment he received, the real-life Mr Crulic was in the prime of life before embarking on his drastic and desperate course of action, and could perhaps have been
WHO’S NEWS Levent Yuksel
has been appointed business unit general manager for PepsiCo East Balkans, headquartered in Bucharest. His previous position was Turkey integration senior director, also for PepsiCo. He began his professional career in 1989, working for Price Waterhouse for four years in Istanbul and Hague. Yuksel joined PepsiCo in 1995 and over the following 16 years has held various management positions within the financial, strategy and business development, acquisitions and integration operations departments.
Robert Novak
is the only managing director of Plaut Consulting Romania as of October just gone. He was appointed managing director of the firm in 2007, leading the
ISSN No. 1453 - 729X xxx
reprieved by the most cursory of police investigations. It is not easy viewing, the more so because the audience is never allowed to forget that these events happened, recently and nearby, in an EU country. But the bleakness of Damian’s documentary is offset against the poetry of the film, whose visuals often have the innocence of a children’s story. A final sequence of Claudiu’s shroud floating off recalls the plastic bag in American Beauty, and that film’s ironic detachment is found here too. Despite the shocking events and cata-
strophic failings by the relevant agencies, the director resists the temptation to make a heavy-handed protest film. The movie is elevated by its light touch, owing in part to the understated delivery of Romanian New Wave veteran Vlad Ivanov, narrating as Claudiu. This sad and important story touches on alienation, crushed hopes, human vulnerability, inhuman bureaucracy. It is a documentary, but it is also a parable of the modern condition.
editorial@business-review.ro
Lanterns were released into the sky last week on UN Day, in memory of Filaret Motco, the UN employee who was killed in Mezar-i Sheriff in Afghanistan in April this year. Each lantern represents the wish, commitment and determination of the UN to keep peace throughout the world and improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage people to respect each other’s rights and freedoms.
Business Review welcomes information for Who’s News from readers. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Get in touch at simona.bazavan@business-review.ro company’s local subsidiary with Romeo Birlescu. Before this, Novak held the position of operations manager for Central and Eastern Europe at the Plaut Group, a unit whose main focus was Romania. Novak joined Plaut Austria GmbH in 1997 as senior consultant and manager of international SAP projects. He was responsible for management consulting projects. Before joining Plaut, Novak led the logistics department of Lauda Air Luftfahrt AG. He attended the University of Business and Economics in Vienna, specializing in business administration and graduating in 1995.
moving back to Europe, he worked for the Mandarin Oriental Group. Marteau will report to Linda Griffin, general manager of Athenee Palace Hilton, and will be responsible for the hotel’s sales and revenue strategy. Yann’s previous role was in a luxury hotel in Indonesia, where he held the position of director of sales and marketing.
while having executive responsibilities at the Sensiblu Foundation. Tanase joined A&D Pharma in March 2008. Previously, she was legal and regulatory compliance director at UPC for three years. Marian Velicu, the former senior director, regulatory, legal and corporate affairs, has stepped down from this position, after 14 years at Vodafone Romania, effective from the end of March 2012.
Florina Tanase
Remus Tiuca
is the new business development director of Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest. With 11 years of professional experience in the field, his career started in Dubai with the Jumeirah group, at the Emirates Towers Hotel and later at the Burj Al Arab. Before
has joined Vodafone Romania as senior director, legal, regulatory and corporate affairs effective from November. She previously worked as vicepresident in the legal department of A&D Pharma Group, taking charge of activities related to legal and corporate governance for the CEE region,
FOUNDING EDITOR Bill Avery EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simona Fodor SENIOR JOURNALIST Otilia Haraga JOURNALISTS Simona Bazavan, Ovidiu Posirca COPY EDITOR Debbie Stowe COLLABORATORS Anda Sebesi, Michael Barclay ART DIRECTOR Alexandru Oriean PHOTOGRAPHER Laurentiu Obae LAYOUT Beatrice Gheorghiu
PUBLISHER Anca Ionita EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR George Moise SALES & EVENTS DIRECTOR Oana Molodoi MARKETING MANAGER Adina Milea SALES & EVENTS Ana-Maria Nedelcu, Claudia Munteanu RESEARCH & SUBSCRIPTION Lili Voineag PRODUCTION Dan Mitroi DISTRIBUTION Eugen Musat
ADDRESS No. 10 Italiana St., 2nd floor, ap. 3 Bucharest, Romania LANDLINE Editorial: 031.040.09.32 Office: 031.040.09.31 Fax: 031.040.09.34 EMAILS Editorial: editorial@business-review.ro Sales: sales@business-review.ro Events: events@business-review.ro
Yann Marteau
has been appointed managing director of Wu Xing. He has 17 years of professional experience in the food service and restaurant industry. Tiuca worked for McDonald’s Romania for 13 years. His last position there was operations manager. He was also involved in setting up the local Burger King business and later went on to work for the Pescador chain.