Fondul Proprietatea reports profit of almost 2bln lei, nine months into 2019

Fondul Proprietatea reported a net profit of 1.936 billion lei in the first nine months of 2019, up 103.7% from the same period last year, according to a quarterly report submitted on Friday to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). 

The main contributors to the profit recorded in the first nine months of 2019 were the gross annual dividend income of RON 723.4 million, and the positive net change in fair value of equity investments classified at fair value through profit or loss of RON 1,267.9 million, mainly related to OMV Petrom SA, as a result of the positive evolution of the share price of this company during the period (increase by 41.3%). 

Total shareholders' equity was RON 10,735.6 million as at 30 September 2019, 9.2% higher compared to the value of RON 9,828.4 million as at 31 December 2018. 

During the first nine months of 2019, 13 companies in the Fund's portfolio declared dividends for the 2018 financial year. In addition, 5 companies declared special and interim dividends. The total amount of gross dividend income recorded by the Fund in the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019 is RON 723.4 million, and the most significant amounts relate to Hidroelectrica SA and OMV Petrom SA. 

As of September 30, the portfolio was composed of holdings in 34 companies (7 listed and 27 unlisted), a combination of privately held and state-controlled entities. 

The fund was established to allow the payment in shares equivalent to the compensation payable in respect of abusive expropriations undertaken by the Romanian State during the communist period, when properties were not returned in kind. It was incorporated as a joint stock company and is operating as an undertaking for collective investment, in the form of a closed end investment company. 

Since 25 January 2011, Fondul Proprietatea has been a listed company on the spot regulated market managed by the Bucharest Stock Exchange in Tier I shares of the Equity Sector of the market. Since 29 April 2015, the Fund's Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) have been listed on the London StockExchange - Specialist Fund Market.