BR Exclusive. Over 500 Romanian start-ups had over EUR 2 mln in turnover last year

More than 500 new-born Romanian companies have hit a turnover of at least RON 10 million (more than EUR 2 million) in their first three years of existence, according to Commerce Registry data sent to Business review.

Romania has more than 600,000 companies, a small number compared to developed economies, but only thousands of them really matter on the market.

Among the companies created after January 1, 2015, 515 have reached a turnover of at least RON 10 million last year.

The best performing company created after the end of 2014 is Tinmar Energy, founded in June 2015 to reach a total turnover of RON 1.8 billion (around EUR 400 million) in 2017.

Tinmar Energy, company owned by Romanian entrepreneur Augustin Oancea, was created in order to benefit from energy prices liberalization in Romania.

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The second-best performing costs is an American-controlled company – Adient Automotive Romania. Part of Johnson Controls group until 2016, Adient produces spare parts for international carmakers in Arges county.

Last year, the company reached a total turnover of RON 1.25 billion (EUR 270 million) despite being founded in January 2016.

The third best performing new company in Romania is Henkel Romania (a subsidiary of German laundry detergent specialist group), founded in October 2015 and reaching a turnover of RON 754.4 million last year.

The fourth in the list is Belor Romania, a local subsidiary of a German group, which posted a turnover of RON 514.4 million last year despite being founded in May 2015.

Belor Romania is a company specialized in fertilizers import and distribution and grains export.

Old sectors at the top of the list

In fact, among the best performing companies of the last few years, traditional sectors like energy, agriculture or tobacco firms are at the top of the list, like one century ago.

Based in Timisoara, Etea Grain acts as originator and trader of cereals and oilseeds from Eastern Europe and reached a turnover of RON 219 million last year despite being founded in January 2015.

Other new companies operating in the same old-fashioned sector are Grains & Meals Mnmi Distribution, Eurovia Agritrade or Cooperativa Agricola Integrată Țara Mea, benefiting from higher demand for Romanian agriculture products.

Another example of old sector “startup” is Imperial Tobacco Distribution Romania, founded in January 2016 and posting a turnover of RON 419 million last year.

However, experts consider that Romania has a volatile business environment as many business owners are replacing one firm with another in order to reduce tax burden or avoid excessive exposure on some customers.