Business

ZAGREB, July 29, 2019 - Croatia Airlines has extended two long-term contracts with Lufthansa Technik, one of the world's largest aircraft maintenance companies, which will continue to provide support to Croatia Airlines' Airbus fleet, the national carrier reported on Monday. The contract for support for all components has been extended for seven years while the contract for support for drive units has been extended for a period of five years. Croatia Airlines has also become a user of Lufthansa Technik's Aviatar platform. Croatia Airlines technical director Davor Bujan said that the company has been recognised in the world as a…

July 29, 2019 - They are the global leaders in the aviation data industry, have an expanding subsidiary in Zagreb, and they are looking for more talented Croatian staff. Meet ch-aviation.  Croatia never ceases to amaze, all the more so for me when I stopped focusing 100% on tourism and started to explore what the world of Croatian business and entrepreneurship had to offer.  It was quite extraordinary. I met a Syrian based in Vukovar employing 750 people, a Brit just outside Zagreb with the biggest baklava factory in Europe, and a Zagreb company which was a fintech global leader…

As Novac/Dora Koretic writes on the 27th of July, 2019, Croatia's hoteliers welcomed the government's recent decision to reduce VAT in the hospitality sector down to 13 percent, however, the owner of the large Bluesun group, Jako Andabak, wasn't very impressed with these latest tax reforms, to say the least. "Well, what can I say to you, I still don't think they really understand tourism. Instead of thinking two steps in advance, they only deal with what suits them right now, instead of acting proactively. If they really wanted to help, they would have to look at the complete situation…

''This is just the very beginning of a strategic reflection on the future of our tourism and hospitality industry,'' state the majority of those working in Croatia's hospitality sector when referring to the Croatian Government's decision to slash VAT in the hospitality sector down to thirteen percent. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of July, 2019, the co-ordination of Croatian Hospitality Workers welcomes the government's announcement that it will reduce tax on business operations by reducing VAT on food preparation in the hospitality industry from 25 down to a much more reasonable 13 percent. ''The goal of reducing the…

ZAGREB, July 27, 2019 - The state-owned road construction and maintenance company Hrvatske Ceste (HC) on Friday selected contractors for access roads to the Pelješac Bridge, awarding a contract for two subsections of the Ston bypass road to the Greek company Avax and a contract for the Duboka-Šparagovići section to the Austrian company Strabag. Avax made an offer of 511.5 million kuna for the subsections Šparagovići-Prapratno and Prapratno-Doli, which are 18 kilometres long in total, while Strabag offered 478.3 million kuna for the 12-km-long Duboka-Šparagovići section. The decision may be appealed within 10 days. The agreement for the construction of…

ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 - The Uljanik shipyard, which is undergoing bankruptcy, on Friday handed over a luxury passenger ship built for the PEC Ltd company from Malta, the Zagreb Stock Exchange said on its website on Friday. The ship is 168 metres long, 21.5 metres wide and can take 237 passengers. It is intended for ocean sailing and has been built according to the latest ecological standards. In March this year the FINA financial agency submitted a request to the Commercial Court for bankruptcy proceedings against the Uljanik shipyard joint-stock company because the shipyard had unsettled payments that were…

ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 - The Fortenova Group, the successor to the Agrokor conglomerate, said on Friday that over 80 percent of holders of depositary receipts had voted in favour of new financing led by the US investment fund HPS Investment Partners. At a general shareholders' meeting in Amsterdam today, over 80 percent of holders of depositary receipts of Fortenova Group STAK Stichting voted in favour of a new financing arrangement for the Fortenova Group to refinance the Super-Priority Term Facilities Agreement of 8 June 2017, the group said in a press release. New financing is structured as a four-year…

ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 - In the first half of 2019, the INA oil group recorded a net profit of HRK 188 million excluding special items, which is 65 percent less than for the same period last year and a consequence of a lower refining margin environment, its financial statement showed on Friday. The INA Group revenues totalled 9.79 billion kuna, up 3 percent compared to the first half of 2018. CCS (current cost of supplies) EBITDA dropped by 11 percent to 1.175 billion kuna. Capital Investments (CAPEX) more than doubled compared to the same period last year and amounted…

ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 - The Ministry of the Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure on Thursday informed that an agreement had been reached with Slovenia's ministry regarding freight road traffic at border crossings with Slovenia which will apply as of August 1. The ministry said in a press release that after Slovenia's ministry for infrastructure adopted a regulation on June 1 introducing restrictions on freight road traffic at certain border crossings with Slovenia, meetings were held with the Slovenian side to resolve the problem for hauliers. Conclusions were reached at the ministerial and operational levels and they will enter into…

ZAGREB, July 25, 2019 - Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting in Čakovec on Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced a press conference for Friday where the fourth round of the tax reform, i.e. new tax reliefs for entrepreneurs and citizens, would be presented. Asked by reporters when would citizens feel the benefits of 200 kuna to 300 kuna more in their pockets, Plenković said that it was necessary to see what the average wage is today and how much it was when his government started working. "Have a look at the minimum wage, the rate of employment, the decreased…