Business

ZAGREB, December 30, 2019 - After Economy Minister Darko Horvat announced on Christmas that Sunday work would be restricted and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković confirmed it on Saturday, Croatia's leading shopping centres are appealing against that, claiming the damage will be incalculable, Jutarnji List reports on Monday. The government's analyses are incorrect and will damage the economy, the daily says, quoting Denis Ćupić of the management of Westgate, the largest shopping centre in the European Union, and Slobodan Skolmik, chairman of the Board of Emmezeta, the second largest furniture retailer in Croatia with 981.4 million kuna in revenue in 2018.…

The state of Croatian shipbuilding has been far from healthy over the last few years, with things reaching boiling point with the large Pula shipyard Uljanik, who saw its workers strike owing to not being paid. Rijeka's 3 Maj has also struggled endlessly, but as 3 Maj contracts its first vessel in over four years, and as the Viktor Lenac shipyard, also in Rijeka, has a cruiser coming to it for repairs early next year, could things slowly be heading in the right direction? As Morski writes on the 30th of December, 2019, it isn't uncomming to see vessels belonging…

ZAGREB, December 29, 2019 - Croatia will be the partner country of the International Green Week Berlin 2020 taking place on January 17-26, the Agriculture Ministry has announced. Croatia's agriculture will be represented by the relevant ministry, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and 50 exhibitors - big and small companies and family farms - which will present delicacies such as smoked ham, kulen (flavoured sausage), honey, oil, fruit brandy, wine and many other protected autochthonous products. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to taste traditional Croatian meals in a green kitchen. The ministry says Germany is one of Croatia's most…

ZAGREB, December 28, 2019 - The Agrokor company has reported the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency to the European Commission and EU competition authorities over the agency's recent moves in connection with the transfer of Mercator's assets from Agrokor to Fortenova. Agrokor's emergency administrator Fabris Peruško on Friday sent a letter to European Commission Vice-President and Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Director-General for Competition Cecilio Madero Villarejo and the heads of the competition authorities of the EU member states and members of the European Competition Network, informing them of recent moves by the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency in connection with the transfer…

Two non-binding offers in the preliminary phase of establishing the interest of the potential investors in increasing the capital of Croatia Airlines have been received, the company reported through Zagreb Stock Exchange today. The company has not, however, reported on who has sent the two non-binding offers, nor how big of an investment they're offering. The Government has decided in February to research the interest and find a strategic partner, as well as establish the Commission for the implementation and the process of selection for Croatia Airlines. Croatia Airlines is the state-owned (over 95 per cent of the shares) flag…

ZAGREB, December 23, 2019 - The Italian company Saipem has expressed interest in investing in geothermal energy in Croatia, the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency said on Monday, announcing that it would soon invite bids for three more locations. At a recent meeting at the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency, representatives of the Italian energy and engineering company Saipem, which until 2016 was a daughter company of the ENI energy giant, expressed interest in making investments in renewable energy in Croatia, notably in geothermal energy. The Agency's representatives acquainted them with Croatia's new regulatory framework that recognises for the first time the great potential…

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of December, 2019, on Saturday, December the 21st, 2019, the Croatian state announced a tender for the lease of state-owned business premises, in addition to the 24 business premises, two garage spaces in attractive locations in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb are on offer. State property (Državne nekretnine) d.o.o., which deals with property owned by the Croatian state has announced its eighth tender for the lease of business premises, with which they have concluded this year's tenders. The specificity of this year's tender is that two garage places in the Zagreb city…

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Tomislav Pili writes on the 19th of December, 2019, Ante Mandić from Insig2, Damir Sabol from Photomath, and Ivan Mrvoš, founder of Include - are the most famous names from the Croatian technology community who decided to invest in STEMI educational and technological startups. The Zagreb-Rijeka based company presented its campaign on the Funderbeam SEE platform back on November the 28th, 2019. The campaign aims to raise a minimum of 300,000 euros that STEMI will invest in growing and scaling its new school-based subscription business model and accessing a part of the global market where more than 3.5…

The Croatian shipbuilding industry hasn't been doing well in recent years. The Uljanik shipyard in the Istrian city of Pula has been the location of what has often looked like absolutely harrowing scenes of unpaid workers striking and demanding their hard earned wages, and that isn't even half of it. Following an extremely concerning and turbulent period, some excellent news has come out of Rijeka's formerly ailing 3 Maj shipyard - a new ship has officially been contracted. As Morski writes on the 20th of December, 2019, the keel for this brand new polar cruiser, which is a sister ship…

ZAGREB, December 21, 2019 - Erste Bank estimates that Croatia's GDP growth in 2020 will slow down to 2.5% compared to the 3% forecast for this year, it was said on Friday during a Christmas function for the bank's executives and the media. Chief analyst at Erste Bank Alen Kovač said that personal consumption and investments were the main generators of growth in 2019 and that investments were supported by better absorption of European Union funds. Kovac expects that these two segments will once again be the main contributors to growth in 2020 and that a relatively strong growth in…