The biggest company in Romania posted a 2.5 times higher net profit in the second year of recession than in 2009, thanks to fuel becoming more expensive, although fuel demand fell 5%. read more...

In almost one month's time, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, 61, the man who bought the biggest company in Romania, Petrom, will step down as CEO of OMV, after a nearly ten-year term at the helm of the Austrian petroleum group. Tomorrow Petrom and OMV announce the last financial results under Ruttenstorfer. read more...

Romanians younger than 35 who want to start a micro-company can submit business plans starting Tuesday to a program supporting young entrepreneurs, and receive up to EUR10,000. read more...

Sensiblu, the drugstore chain part of the A&D Pharma group, has bought the 24-drugstore Farmaplanet chain, with the transaction already sent to the Competition Council for approval. read more...

eMag, the biggest online retailer on the Romanian market, posted 102 million euros in turnover last year, up 60% against 2009, while the online electronics & IT retail market rose to 145 million euros. read more...

Cora French retailer, present domestically with five hypermarkets, will enter the mall segment by launching Corall project of Constanţa in the second half of 2012, in the wake of 100m-euro investments. read more...

Oil Terminal Constanţa nearly tripled its profits compared to 2009, according to the financial statement sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. read more...

Businessman Valer Blidar, one of the most important Romanian industrialists, who controls Astra Vagoane Călători of Arad and set up Banca Comercială Feroviară, says the profit the passenger carriage manufacturer derived last year halved and turnover dropped by almost 14%. read more...

American giant Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, with 68 billion dollars (50 billion euros) in turnover in 2010, has become the owner of a food supplements plant in Cluj, with over 5 million euros in annual sales. read more...

Profi retailer, controlled by Enterprise Investors investment fund, operating on the discounter segment, plans to go beyond the mark of 100 stores in Romania, from 83 at present. read more...

Two Romanian lawmakers have submitted a bill in Parliament that would force supermarkets to have special designated areas for traditional Romanian products, in a bid to support the local economy. read more...

Dan Şucu, owner of Mobexpert business, the biggest player on the domestic furniture market, is for the first time speaking about the possibility of opening new stores this year, as he's received appealing offers from various space owners. read more...

The revival of consumption, the signal all managers in a sector worth over 21 billion euros per year are waiting for, seems an increasingly unlikely scenario, after a 2010 in which the decline in food, drinks and non-food sales amounted to as much as 14% in volume, with the year also seeing the first decline in value in six years (-4.2%), according to data of market research company MEMRB. read more...

Carrefour French retailer, with 1.13bn-euro turnover in 2010, has appointed a domestic entrepreneur, Vlad Ardeleanu, as head of procurement. read more...

Convenience stores Mic.ro, held by businessman Dinu Patriciu, are seeking to boost sales by means of a card system that would replace the notebook still used for keeping track of debtors in stores in rural areas and small towns in Romania. read more...

Starting February 2011, Sony operations in Romania are lead by Japanese Tomohiro Nakashima, aged 38 who replaces Tiju Ishikawa who will take over operations in Czech Republic and Slovakia, the company informed. read more...

Duşan Wilms, one of the few Romanian executives running a multinational, Metro Cash & Carry Romania, with 5,800 employees and 1.3bn-euro turnover, says the revival of retail and of the economy rests with consumption, the engine of the pre-crisis period. read more...

Retail sales, the main indicator that measures the consumer spending trend, fell by 7.2% in December last year against the same period of 2009, with the biggest decline being recorded by non-food products, show data of the National Statistics Institute (INS). read more...

Swedish retailer Hennes&Mauritz, with 14 billion euros in turnover, will begin operations on the Romanian fashion market on March 25. The 1.9 billion-euro market per year saw leading H&M rivals Zara and C&A report profit from the first full year in business. read more...

Romanian retail sales fell 9.4% on the year in December 2010, the largest decline in the European Union, official data showed Thursday. read more...