Daily ‘Gandul,’ quoting a survey conducted by ‘Ziarul Financiar’ business paper, wrote that the overall gains earned by the top 300 most profitable companies in Romania, totalled EUR 9.5 bln, 25 per cent of state overall revenues, in 2009, when the local economy suffered a recession of over 7 per cent GDP.

OMV Petrom, which made a gross profit of EUR 401.3 M, down 8 per cent from last year, is the chart-topper. Mobile telephony operator Orange comes second, 80 M behind, with a gross profit 38 per cent lower than that posted in 2008.

Next come Vodafone, BRD SocGen and the Proprietatea Fund. If the ranking of OMV Petrom, Orange, Vodafone or Romgaz was expected, BRD SocGen making it into the top chart is seen as rather surprising.

The pleasant surprise is that the Romanian state is a shareholder in four of the ten biggest earners, OMV Petrom, Fondul Proprietatea, Romgaz and Electrica respectively.

The summed gross profit made by the four comes to nearly EUR 950 M, an amount the state hoped to obtain from the Value Added Tax (VAT) hike from 19 to 24 per cent.

Three of the four companies concerned are fully state-owned, their accumulated profit exceeding half a billion euros

“I don’t think any sector will be able to preserve its profit margins at the start of the crisis, as pressures put by slack consumption are comprehensive. Only the monopolist sectors or those under hidden protection will be able to preserve their profits,” Doru Lionachescu, senior partner at the Capital Partners consultancy firm, said.