The story of Algeco: how to grow a company in the middle of the crisis?

Romania was fully hit by the global crisis, and construction field was by far one of the most affected areas. However, there is a company that not only survived the crisis but had significant increases in 2009. It’s Algeco.

What was Algeco’s success in Romania? The increase of turnover with 35% in 2009 compared to 2008 and a doubling of operational profit.

We wonder how it was possible, especially in a year that most companies in this area have dropped dramatically?

And here it is the story of Algeco …

Algeco Romania is part of Algeco Scotsman, a leading global provider of services, expert in modular space and storage solutions. In other words, Algeco invests in solutions for space, which provides beneficiaries solving an immediate need at the best quality.

The European Union was born from a dream. Those who founded it were people with vision and high ideals, such as Robert Schumman, Kondrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi or Jean Monnet. Their dream was continued by other visionaries: Edward Heath, Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Delors and Helmut Kohl.

The Europe they wanted was a Union of values, a strong area, united in diversity.

Is the Europe today the one they have dreamed to?

Last days news reveals us shocking information. Greece has publicly admitted that they provided false information to the European Union. Bulgaria succeeded in this series of disclosures, recognizing that they also provided false information to the Union regarding the actual level of its budgetary deficit. Certainly, in the coming weeks or months, other countries will be added to this list.

Trust between the Union states began to shake, and availability to offer support between the member states decreased substantially.

articol published in the Consulting Review magazine

One of the latest concepts in business is the “corporate entrepreneurship”, i.e. implementing entrepreneurial business practices in the management of major corporations.

What does that mean? Shell we understand that the corporate management model, so much praised in the past 20 years is not really the key to success? Or that all the MBA’s and management, leadership, strategic planning courses, etc… involving managers of corporations do not hold the key to success and do not provide all the answers to the challenges these managers should face?

A year ago I was fortunate to know personally Larry Farrell, the American specialist who created the concept of Corporate Entrepreneurship and the No. 1 worldwide specialist in research and development of entrepreneurial practices.

Ascent Group became partner of the NGO Mişcarea Arădeană in the project “Arad, my love!“

“Arad, my love!” is an educational project which aims to reach the children from Arad on city’s values and beauty.

Because we think for long term, we joined Mişcarea Arădeana’s wish to determine future generations to think differently and to love Arad with the same passion as those who built the city. Therefore we want to offer children the chance to know Arad from another perspective, to provide them information about its values and spirit.

The Romanian Government decided to offer starting with 1st of February 2010, another period of three months of technical unemployment during which the social charges for the employees will not be paid, but the employers have to certify the difficult period of their company by giving a statutory declarations. These companies will be periodically checked by ANAF.

The new period of technical unemployment will be applied from February 2010 but not later than December 31, 2010. During the suspension of the individual employment contract the employees and the employers (of those employees) are exempt from paying social security contributions for no more than 90 days.

Personnel layoffs, in both private and public system, are one of the most common topics in the mass-media our days.

Regarding this issue, for most of us 2009 meant fear. It seems that even the new state regulations have formed premises to personnel reduction.

But, we come to ask now if dismissal is really the only alternative to reducing the personnel cost?
The answer is far to be a simple yes or no. Many factors are involved in this decision such as:

• the business of the company;
• suppliers and customers;
• number of competitors in the market;
• substitution rate of products and services
• the future strategy of the company

Taking into account all these factors, when the management concludes that a company needs to reduce costs, a careful analyze regarding the following issues is request:

Until few years ago, Romania was still full of tourists spending their holidays in Mamaia, Eforie, 1 Mai, and was welcoming them, in the specifically hospitality spirit with inflated prices, lowest quality service and forced smiles. We were enjoying it or, better, we had to enjoy it because we had no choice.

Today, the situation is different. Our Bulgarian neighbors saw that we have a problem and found a very suitable solution to our needs: they learn Romanian language or employed Romanian-speaking Bulgarians, they nicely smiled to foreign investors and now, the majority of Romanian tourists but not only, already changed the itinerary of their holiday to Bulgaria. Who has not heard of Golden Sands, Albena and Balchik? 1-0 for Bulgaria.

In January 28, 2006 was published the Law 441/2006, which amended the Law. 31/1990 on trading companies introducing new measures on the submission of annual financial statements. Although initially the measures should have been applied from January 1st, 2007, its implementation was delayed until January 1, 2010. Thus, since 2010, the annual financial statements and related addendums in Romania will be submitted only to the Trade Register Office.

According to the existing notification on Trade Register’s website “annual financial statements for 2009 are submitted only in the county offices of the Trade Register respectively in the Trade Register Office of Bucharest. “

We are în the crisis: crisis of trained people, resource people, talented people.

And we are also in the crisis of people able to identify, develop and keep the resource people in the companies.

Ascent Group is your partner in the process of personal and professional development of your employees, because the continuous personnel development is a need felt by any company especially during the curent economical context.

Ascent Group brings a modern vision into the learning process, by emphasizing the benefits of “learning by doing” through exercises, role-plays and behavioral modeling. Our training programs have an interactive approach, are personalized and addressed to each client’s unique demands, to their visions and organizational objectives.

In 2010, in addition to the minimum tax that has got no economical logic, the tax system for micro-enterprises in Romania was adjusted as well, from an income tax based on applying a rate of 3% on revenue, to the implementation of an income tax with a rate of 16%, even further burdening these enterprises that have been already affected by the global economic crisis.

I believe that eliminating the income taxation of micro-enterprises and keeping the minimum tax which, I repeat, has no economical logic, will substantially contribute to the suspension or closure of many companies and certainly the growth of tax evasion in 2010.

At the end of last year, the European Commission approved a program proposed by Romania which is valid until December 31, 2010 and is expected to offer support to the companies that have financial problems due to the worst conditions of the economic crisis.

The financial support may be granted by the Romanian authorities only to companies that were not în difficulty on July 1, 2008. The companies will receive grants, concessional loans, interest subsidies, guarantees or phasing the claims hold by the state without charging interest.

Training was one of the most affected sectors uring the crisis. We all know that training market dramatically decreased last year, due to the “education cost freeze” process in most of the companies.

However, even during the crisis period, some of the topics were highly requested by companies, especially because they respond tu curent needs.

One of the most popular training modules during the crisis, was certainly the one related to entrepreneurship and the ways to use the basics of entrepreneurship in the work activities, dedicated to managers and employees who want to develop their entrepreneurial spirit in their jobs. The difference that this new module is bringing on the Romanian market is encouraging the employees of the companies to build and grow a business and not just to manage it.

Under current legislation, employers in Romania are required to register the individual employment contracts at Labor Inspectorates within 20 calendar days from their closing and to transmit them to the General Registry of Evidence of Employees within 5 days.

Due to some new regulations, as a measure against tax evasion, the Labor Ministry published the GD. 37/2010 on January 20th, 2010 which states that employers must register in the General Registry of Evidence of Employees the employment contracts and the identification data of employees – name, surname, personal identification number, date of employment, position, type of contract – not later than the previous day of the beginning of work by the employee. The employment contract must be submitted online or presented at the Labor Inspectorate on the same date, the term of 5 days given to employers to communicate this information at the Labor Inspectorates being eliminated.

According to the communication of the Ministry of Public Finance of Romania, on January 27, 2010, starting with January 1, 2010, the provisions of Title IV ‘Taxes on the Income of Micro-enterprises “, the application regulations, as well as other provisions incident to this system, are not longer produceing legal effects.

In accordance with the provisions of Art. 107 of Law no. 571/2003 regarding the Fiscal Code, the taxation system for micro-enterprises had a limited application in time, ending on December 31, 2009, by way of regulating tax rates only for the years 2007-2009.

On December 29th, 2009 the Romanian Government issued the Emergency Order number 16 ofor the establishment of new measures for registrations in the Trade Registry, legal provision published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 926 of December 30rd, 2009.

This emergency ordinance shall enter into force 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette and applied until the publishing of the regulation of registration made by commercial registers. Within 6 months from the effective date of this Emergency Ordinance, the Government will adopt the proposal of the Ministry of Justice, for the law on the establishment, organization and operation of the profession of commercial registrator.

The legal provision comes as a result of crowded courts with a large number of cases and procedures related to business flow.

In the Romanian Official Gazette No.761 of November 9, 2009 was published the Law nr.329 of 05.11.2009 amending the Tax Code with an new Article, namely Article 19.2 paragraph (1) which states a tax exemption on the reinvested profit.

Thus, by law, the profit invested in the production and/or acquisition of equipment (machinery, equipment and work facilities), as stated in subgroup 2.1 of the “Catalogue on classification and normal periods of operating fixed assets, used in order to obtain taxable income” is exempt from tax.

The exemption from tax applies only to assets considered new, by this understanding that they were not used before the publication of these provisions.

Profit invested under Law 329 of November 9, 2009, represents the balance of the profit and loss account, representing the cumulative accounting profit from the beginning of the year and is used within the year when the investment is made.

The Government Ordinance amending the Tax Code which will apply from January 1, 2010 has been adopted and does not contain any provision on the reduced tax of 3%.

According to the Tax Code for 2010, published by the National Tax Administration Agency, micro-enterprises will pay from January 1, 2010 an income or profit tax of 16%, as the reduced income tax of 3% applies only until 31 December 2009, as indicated in the Article 107 of the Tax Code:

“The tax rate on micro-enterprise’s income is 2% in 2007, 2.5% in 2008, 3% in 2009”.

The Finance Ministry has expressed its intention of not changing the tax rate of 3% for micro-enterprises, with the possibility of extending its application for a further year. These are only expressed opinions, as there is no legislation in this regard till today.

If this tax rate will disappear, all the advantages that firms bearing the status of micro-enterprises benefited from, will be abolished from 2010.

Another turbulent year is closing. After a devastating 2009 for the economies of all countries in the region what interests us most now, as investors, is what will happen in 2010 and what evolution will have the economy of these countries in the year we’re just about to enter.

The forecasts of the key financial and international institutions are not always in consensus and the estimations of the local governments are usually more optimistic than those of international institutions, mainly for elections PR reasons, so we will try to do a review as most complete as possible of these forecasts, including various points of view.

As average values, the contraction of the Eastern Europe economies in 2009 was estimated by BERD to 6.3%, respectively as by the estimations of the same international body, in 2010 we can expect an average increase of 2.5% of the Eastern European economies.

2010 is preparing us a series of new amendments to the Tax Code. In addition to those which are still in the planning phase or in the center of public debate, there are some changes that have already become certainties, since they were already published in a legal document, the Ordinance 109 of October 7, 2009 published in Official Gazette no. 689 of 13.10.2009.

The main amendments of the Fiscal Code refers to the place of delivery for services and the finalcial summary statement. Thus, the Ordinance 109 of 07/10/2009 amended Article 133 of the Tax Code, regarding the place of delivery for services.

If until now the place of delivery for services was considered the place where the supplier is established or has fixed office from which services are delivered, once with the amendments of the Ordinance 109 of 2009, under Article 133 paragraph 2), the place of delivery for services became the place where the person that receives the services has the business office.

In January 2009 Ascent Group has signed a strategic partnership with the very known American expert in researching and promoting the principles of entrepreneurship and innovative business solutions – Larry Farrell. Due to this partnership, Ascent Group is going to represent Mr. Farell in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Moldova for training and consultancy services on entrepreneurship topics.

The conclusion of this partnership was followed by some visits of Larry Farrell in the region, who launched the program personally in Romania between 10-18 April 2009 and în Bulgaria on October 6.

The year 2009 was certainly not the best for Moldova, in all respects. It started with a campaign that slowly degenerated into a real political crisis, which, unfortunately, at the end of the year continues. A political crisis that we hope it will be resolved soon and which in tandem with global financial and economic crisis has created an unprecedented situation for Moldova.

However, nothing can lie a good eye of an investor who knows that a crisis may be a perfect runway, if you know how to pave the way and take advantage of the specific geographical region. An economic crisis brings beautiful investment opportunities with little money, because the whole economy has become “cheaper”, but with the same critical needs. The giants in the business world recommend the crisis as the most favorable moment for large projects.

Moldova is a special case which succeeded to stick his head in 2 crises that affect itself one to each other.

The portal e-Romania will be launched on December 25th with the first ten services. So whether you must pay a tax on a good or a fine, starting with this date you can do it directly on internet, saving any unnecessary travels or lossing time staying at the endless queues.

Later on, the portal will cover other areas such as education, health and culture.

A better news is coming, but for legal entities: within maximum 89 days, all companies will be able to present the balance sheets and pay all the fees online.

According with the World Bank, Romania has currently one of the most bureaucratic tax administrations in the world.

If on December 25 the portal will be really launched , then we could say that we are witnessing a great step that Romania is doing towards information technology and, implicitly, to improve the communication between the State and its custumers, the taxpayers.

Starting with October 2009, Mirela Dinu became the new coordinator of finance and accounting department of Ascent Group office in Bucharest.

Mirela graduated the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Management and Business Administration specialization. Her professional experience includes 5 years in developing projects as economist and accountant for important companies from the Romanian and foreig financial market. In all these years Mirela has developed activities of management, financial reporting and economic analysis.

Many entrepreneurs who wanted to apply until now on projects funded by EU have been discouraged by the lack of pre-financing. So far entrepreneurs received a pre-financing of 10-20% which was calculated from the co-financed amount, which extended to approximately 50% of the project.

Now, the entrepreneurs can receive from start 30% from the value of projects financed by European Union money.
The only problem entrepreneurs will still be facing is the difficulty of receiving loans from the banks for running the projects.

On October 6th Ascent Group Bulgaria held in the Radisson Hotel Sofia a seminar under the theme “The Crisis Age of Enterprise”, which was delivered by Mr. Larry Farrell – globally recognized authority on entrepreneurship.

Mr. Farrell has a wide and diverse theoretical and practical background – Peace Corps Volunteer, University of California Law School, Harvard Business School, Vice President at American Express in New York, President of Kepner-Tregoe in Princeton, NJ, board member of The Economic Development Society in the USA, and The Journal Of Strategic Change in London. He is also a regular columnist for The Conference Board Review, the magazine of The Conference Board in New York City