The financial crisis has cost IT companies 6 percent of their profit, says survey

The IT industry in Romania is about to reach maturity and has handled the financial crisis well. Between 2008 and 2012, the turnover of IT companies has grown by 2.6 percent while profits went down by 6.1 percent, according to data from the survey The IT Market in Romania and the Manageranticriza Report 2008- 2012.

The survey was carried out on 860 companies in hardware and software production and distribution, IT services and consultancy.

At the level of the entire sector, 50.2 percent of the interviewed IT firms said they posted profit in 2012. Companies with a turnover up to EUR 100,000 represent more than half of the companies in the industry, but they only generate 5.6 percent of the total turnover and employ 17 percent of the total number of staff in this field.

Romania still qualifies as an exporter of software, hardware and IT services, due to its skilled IT staff, the number of R&D centers set up here, and the European copyright legislation.

Between 2008 and 2012, the volume of activity of these companies went up by 0.6 percent annually.

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The peak year in turnover was 2012, when it grew by 0.8 percent compared to the previous year.

During 2008 and 2012, the profit of the interviewed companies dropped by 6.1 percent, at an average annual decrease rate of 1.6 percent.

The profit margin for the top 10 companies on the Romanian market varied in 2012 between 3.2 percent and 13.7 percent, while the aggregated profit margin for the entire group of companies stood at 4.8 percent.

The employee base fluctuated substantially, from a 3 percent decline in 2009 versus 2008 to a 18.6 percent upward trend in 2011 versus 2010. Overall, the annual personnel growth rate was 7.9 percent.

The companies that absorbed the most labor force between 2008 and 2012 were those in IT services, followed by IT consultancy firms, which saw their personnel soar by 16 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

In 2012, the average debt level of companies included in the report was 61.7 percent while in the case of the top 10 companies on the market, the average debt rate stood at 67.8 percent. However, three of the top 10 companies had a debt rate that was lower than the group average.

Otilia Haraga