The 207 companies operated by the Romanian state have registered revenues of RON 4.46 bln (EUR 902 mln) in the first quarter of 2022, four times as much as in the same period of last year, according to an analysis by Profit.ro.

Impacted by the raging pandemic, the same companies had revenues of RON 1.2 bln last year. This year brought expectations of a return to normal, but the present revenues are more than twice as much as the ones usually recorded by state-owned companies in the first three months of previous years.

The biggest energy producers in Romania, like the hydroelectric power plant Hidroelectrica or the nuclear power plant Nuclearelectrica, have seen massive spikes in income due to the ongoing energy crisis.

The prosperous state companies, many of them massive energy producers, made payments of RON 7.76 bln from the new gains. Roughly RON 2.58 bln went to the state budget, while the rest was cashed in by other investors.

By and large, state companies, including those managed by local authorities, still have debts of nearly RON 10 bln (EUR 2 bln). However, the companies with the best revenues are most likely not the ones that still deal with standing debts, say journalists at Profit.ro, but rather the ones that are still struggling on the market.

The current number of employees in state-owned companies is 253,000, down from 264,800 in March last year. Even with about 12,000 fewer employees, salary expenses are RON 4.86 billion, a slight increase from RON 4.73 billion in the first quarter of last year.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo Source: Octav Ganea | Inquam Photos)