Annual ranking of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe
MFG’s three key objectives are efficiency at all levels of the business flow, investment in information technology, adoption of digital and advanced analytics. In other words, we plan to use the downturns as an opportunity to further expand our business – to develop our major markets and step in the largest ones, like India and the US.
Romania is the second largest EU natural gas producer and has a relatively lower import dependency as compared to its neighbours. Having its own natural resources is a defining advantage for Romania’s energy security. Currently, we are replenishing the gas storage needs in accordance with the obligation in place for winter consumption, and we will be compliant in terms of quantities. Our equity gas should be sufficient to cover the current needs of our customers. Additionally, we are actively working on diversifying our supply sources to strengthen the security of supply.
Modis is one of the three main brands of the Adecco Group and is specialised in the IT and digital field. With over 30,000 consultants around the globe, the company has been organically growing for the past years. To further expand the business and diverse its portfolio of services, the Group decided to acquire another company similar in size and merge its business with the one of Modis. Akka Technologies turned out to be the best choice with its long-year expertise and large portfolio of engineering solutions. A year after the deal has been confirmed, we are about to launch the new global brand Akkodis combining the vast expertise of both Modis and Akka in the IT and engineering space and turning into a leader in Smart Industry. The new brand will have presence in over 30 countries with over 50,000 digital engineers and experts.
The Covid pandemic had a huge effect on exacerbating inequalities across a range of different areas. If you look at women for example, they shouldered the bulk of responsibilities during the Covid period and were more affected by changes in the labour market when some industries basically had to shut down.
The geopolitical tensions do not affect Banca Transilavania’s operations, considering that we are not present on the neighbouring market and that the Romanian banking system is not directly exposed to risks associated with the conflict in Ukraine. Of course, there is an impact when it comes to payables and receivables with the Russian Federation, as we must respect EU regulations pertaining to international sanctions but we try to responsibly manage the situation in such a way so that the effect on our customers is minimal. As for risk costs, they will increase, but not necessarily as a direct result of the situation in Ukraine, as there are cumulative recession signals coming from the U.S. and the Euro zone. In line with the requirements of the European Central Bank, credit risk management is a priority for us, together with the governance and the solidity of our business model.
As the market is really dynamic and moving faster than ever before in most of the industries, we at UniCredit Bulbank are dedicated to the constant improvement of the internal processes resulting in the enhancement and speed up of the services to the customers. This is a constant endeavour and it entails relevant investments and focus on a few aspects – the digitalisation, internal simplification of processes and growth of our most important asset – our people.
The war in Ukraine was the trigger for many negative developments in the world economy, which is going through a very unstable period. Prices are rising rapidly, interest rates are being increased to slow down the inflation, energy prices and supply issues are only the tip of the iceberg of problems in the world economy. The EU is under even greater pressure, having in mind its dependence on Russian gas and oil and the need to switch to other sources. The economy is showing the first signs of a recession which could hit us more strongly than anyone expects. And the crisis is not only economic. The healthcare crisis with Covid is still underway, and on top of all that the war in Ukraine is fully changing the geopolitical situation in Europe and all over the world. Add to this the recent US – China tensions around Taiwan. These economic and geopolitical issues are hitting the business and we expect that many companies will struggle to keep their positive results and liquidity in the forthcoming period. Higher interest rates will lead to less investments and development project and will force managers to reduce costs of operations.
When MFG group was founded in 2015 it included two business lines – home collected lending and alternative channels. Since then, the group grew a lot. If we consider only the credit cards, back in 2016 we had operations only in Bulgaria and only with the brand Biala Karta. Now we have successful businesses also in Romania, Poland and Spain. And we set up our business in the US, having an office in San Francisco. Also, in Bulgaria we added new card products such as Biala Karta Gold and A1 card. And we grew our
customer base from 40,000 to over 200,000 cardholders.