From January 1, 2012, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) will no longer release visas to the Schengen destination. That is to say, the countries of Europe.

Our ambassador to the Helvetic Confederation, Hem Rajemison Rakotomaharo is now in the country to spend the Christmas and New Year holiday with his family.

The minister of foreign affairs, Pierrot Rajaonarivelo left the country to Ankara in purpose of improving the political and economic cooperation between Madagascar and Turkey.

A personality known in the world of tourism and hotel industry for many years, Eric Kholler has just been elected, for a two-year term which is renewable twice, at the presidency of the National Office of Tourism (ONTM) and replaced Joel Randriamandrato .

“Once an edition is completed, we are already preparing the next one. Otherwise, it will not be well organized,” stated Michel Domenichini Ramiaramanana of the Première Ligne Agency proudly.

Eco Astral, the business magazine of the Indian Ocean has just released its 2011 edition of the top 100 companies in the region.

At first glance, it has been observed in this edition that the effects of the global economic crisis have not spared the companies in this region. In Madagascar, it has got worse with the political crisis although the first company in our country, namely the Galana group, is found at the 35th position.

Malagasy firms

The GALANA Group

With a performance of +26.4% of its profits, the Galana group is the “first oil company of the majors which has modernized its equipment. It also manages two terminals storage in Toamasina with a 260,000 m3 total capacity. This group has a consolidated turnover of 134,008,660 Euros.

JIRAMA

Despite the fact that it is placed in the 36th row behind the Galana Group, the national company of the JIRAMA has seen its situation deteriorating and has suffered heavy losses while its profit amounted to 14.6 million Euros in 2008. Currently, the JIRAMA Company has only 127, 210, 100 Euros of turnover. This state company has lost nearly 50 million Euros from 2009 to 2011.

TOTAL MADAGASCAR

Located at 41st place, the TOTAL MADAGASCAR group has a consolidated turnover of 118 million Euros. However, it is worth noting that this group also suffered losses and left the first place (in Madagascar) to the Galana group.

STAR BREWERIES

This is the last companies in Madagascar to be classified in the Top 50 of the Indian Ocean. It is therefore at the ... 50th place with a consolidated turnover of 105.2 million Euros with a considerable growth of 21%.

To come back to the Indian Ocean region, the first place is held by the VINDEMIA Reunion Group which has a consolidated turnover of 866 million Euros, with a 3% increase. This group, which remains leader in the Indian Ocean is followed by two other companies of this same island: Bernard Hayot and Callié.

The surprises come from Air Madagascar and the Sipromad Group
According to this EcoAustral brochure, for Madagascar, the surprises, good and bad, come from our national airline company and the Sipromad Group.

Indeed, for Air Madagascar, its turnover fell down to 30%. It is placed at the 81st place and its consolidated turnover only amounts to 67.85 million Euros. That is the bad surprises of this year 2011. In fact, one wonders how an airlinecompany, with a staff of 1,363 people can “stand up” with a net result of two million Euros.

The other surprise is from the Sipromad group, which, with 1,500 employees, could have had a consolidated turnover of 65,129,415 Euros. By the middle of 2012, the Sipromad group will open its headquarters in Ankorondrano-Antananarivo. It is a tower of 30 floors (the highest in the Indian Ocean), which will be endowed with a heliport.