The County Council of Braşov looking to earn over 31 million lei by privatizing two industrial parks

The members of the Braşov county council yesterday approved the proposal of the county"s executive to begin the privatization procedure through the selling of shares in the industrial parks it controls - Metrom Industrial Park and Carfil Industrial Park.

The County Council intends to sell about 74% of the shares of each of the companies that manage the two parks. According to the evaluations presented by the county institution, the market value of the company Metrom Industrial Park, a company fully controlled by the County Council of Braşov, which manages the Metrom industrial park, is 26.511 million lei, and experts are proposing that the bidding start at a price of 260 lei/share.

The market value of Carfil Industrial Park, a company which is also fully controlled by the County Council of Braşov, is 16.038 million lei. In its case, experts have suggested that bidding start at a price of 135 lei/share.

If the shares were bought at the starting price, the County Council would earn 11.637 million lei in exchange for the 74% of the shares of the Carfil Industrial Park and 19.416 million lei for the 74% stake in the Metrom Industrial Park. In 2007, the two parks were valued at 6.5 million Euros.

The first industrial park of Braşov to become operational, Carfil Industrial Parc, was created in 2003. It has a surface of 18,700 square meters, of which production areas and offices account for 11,000 square meters. The Metrom Industrial Park has a surface of 63,700 square meters, of which 25,000 square meters are occupied by offices, production hangars and storage areas.

• Profit of Metrom Industrial Park falls three times

Last year, Metrom Industrial Park had a net profit of 77,646 lei, almost three times lower than in 2010, when it has a net profit of 214,871 lei. The revenues of the park fell by about 15%, from 1.401 million lei to 1.193 million lei, whereas expenses only decreased 4%, from 1.137 million lei to 1.092 million lei. The company explains the drop in its revenues by the fact that several of the companies headquartered in the park experienced financial difficulties due to the economic crisis. In 2011, the company expects its net profit to fall 15.9% compared to 2010, to just 65,300 lei, with a 14.5% increase in revenues, to 1.366 million lei. However its expenses also increased 17.94%, from 1.092 million lei to 1.288 million lei.

• Carfil Industrial Park (CIP) - a profit of just 916 lei in 2010

After last year"s "achievement" of having a net profit of just 916 lei, Carfil Industrial Park (CIP) has budgeted a profit of 199,878 lei this year. For 2011, the company has budgeted revenues of 2.061 million lei, up 40.8% over last year"s figure of 1.463 million lei, whereas it expects expenses to increase at a slower pace, by just 25.75%, from 1.462 million lei to 1.868 million lei.