However, the number of Romanian companies present among the top CEE businesses has risen compared to the year before, when there were only 30 companies among the top 500. Another difference from 2007 is the fact that none of the Romanian companies in the Top 500 had domestic capital, while two full Romanian firms are now among the CEE’s biggest businesses.
While 78 percent of the major Eastern European companies increased their business last year (on average by 20 percent), in the first quarter of 2009, 76 percent of these already reported an average 23 percent drop in business. Romanian corporations reported an average 26.8 percent average drop in turnover for the first quarter in 2009, lower than the contractions in the Czech Republic (29 percent), Hungary (29.2 percent) and the Baltic States, but higher than Poland (18 percent) and Slovakia (16.9 percent).
Romania’s largest company, Petrom, is 16th among top CEE companies, with turnover worth €5 billion. Other Romanian companies among the top 100 CEE companies in 2008 were Rompetrol (39), Dacia (77), ArcelorMittal (89) and Metro (100). While Petrom retained its same position among the Top 500 CEE companies, other Romanian firms advanced in the European classification for last year, including Rompetrol, Rompetrol Downstream, Petrotel LukOil and Electrica. Four banks in Romania were among the Top 50 in CEE in 2008: Banca Comerciala Romana (10), BRD (14), Volksbank (46) and UniCredit (50). The Top 50 CEE companies also included Allianz Tiriac (23), Omniasig (27), Asirom (39), ING Asigurari de Viata (41), Astra-Uniqa (42), and Asiban (45).