Business

Famous textile industry brand Varteks is getting a new lease of life after Nenad Bakić became the majority owner of the Varaždin clothing manufacturer last year. Bakić recently took over the position of the CEO in order to accelerate the business processes that should lead to the full recovery of the company. Workers have stopped leaving, after a long time the company is no longer closing its shops, and wages are being paid on time, reports Index.hr on April 12, 2019. “We found Varteks in a situation in which it actually only pretended to be a corporation. Varteks is a…

April 12, 2019 - Continuing our look at the lack of foreign investments in Croatian tourism, taking a closer look at one of the government's flagship tourism strategies - golf. Oh dear.  This is not an article about golf.  This is not an article debating whether or not golf tourism is a good or bad thing, that is an entirely different discussion.  This is an article about incompetence. This is an article about a sector of tourism which is central to Croatia's tourism strategy (according to its own documents) and yet where not only has nothing happened for a decade…

ZAGREB, April 12, 2019 - As many as 59% of Croatian companies think that the state of digitisation of the national economy is poor or very poor, a survey showed on Thursday. The survey of the digital readiness of Croatian companies was carried out by the Apsolon business consulting firm, previously called Sense Consulting. It was conducted on a sample of 300 companies, including 65 large companies with over 250 employees and 235 medium-sized companies with between 50 and 249 employees, operating in different regions and industrial sectors. The survey found that as few as 15% of Croatian companies have…

ZAGREB, April 11, 2019 - The energy sector can be the driver of Croatia's investment development, so it is important to have a good energy strategy, the head of the Energy and Environmental Protection Division at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Marija Šćulac Domac, said on the occasion of the Energy Democracy Summit, the HGK said in a statement on Thursday. The summit is taking place in the northern coastal city of Pula from 10 to 12 April and has brought together over 400 participants from 14 countries. The idea of energy democracy implies the highest level of responsibility…

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of April, 2019, Chinese interest continues to grow as the Republic of Croatia and China opened a new, ambitious chapter of economic and trade relations on Wednesday, deepening their relationship even more after talks between the two prime ministers who both considered the talks to be a "fruitful turnaround". Relations between Zagreb and Beijing initially reached a higher level after the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation was chosen as the much anticipated Pelješac bridge builder. The two countries readily signed six agreements, which cover the segments of rail, agriculture, digital technology…

Croatia's employment issues are somewhat perplexing to many, and although there has apparently been a massive drop in unemployment, there's only been a very slight jump in those registering as newly employed. The maths doesn't always really add up, but unfortunately the demographic picture of the country explains it all. As Jadranka Dozan/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of April, 2019, at this time of year, official data on employment levels tends to heavily reflect the huge levels of seasonality Croatia's labour market is affected by with every passing year, of course, this is primarily owing to the increased employment…

ZAGREB, April 10, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić on Wednesday said that his party would forward a bill of amendments to VAT to the parliament proposing the lowering of VAT for tourism and hospitality in order to improve the competitiveness of that sector that the government is constantly exposing to new and increased levies. Bernardić told a press conference that SDP wanted the VAT rate to be lowered to 13% in hospitality and 10% for accommodation services just as in the countries in Europe where tourism is developed. He does not expect the government to accept…

ZAGREB, April 10, 2019 - Croatia's economic growth will slow down mildly in 2019 and 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its spring forecast confirming Croatia's GDP growth forecast however, it significantly changed its forecast of unemployment. Croatia's economy this year is expected to increase by 2.6%, which was also forecast in the IMF's World Economic Outlook last autumn. According to its forecast for 2020, Croatia's growth will decelerate slightly to 2.5%. IMF's forecast to 2018 however has been downgraded by 0.1 percentage points to 2.7%, with Croatia recording four years of growth in a row. IMF significantly…

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 9th of April, 2019, more than sixty meetings with investors were held by five Croatian and three Slovenian issuers as the Zagreb and Ljubljana stock exchanges presented their markets and issuers in New York on Monday, at the second largest international stock market - Nasdaqu, in cooperation with the Auerbach Grayson investment company and with a very good response from American investors, as the Zagreb Stock Exchange announced on Tuesday. Although the Zagreb and Ljubljana stock exchanges have repeatedly presented their markets and issuers at local and regional investment conferences and on other similar…

The Mid Europa Partners Fund has entered into the ownership structure of Mlinar, the leading bakery company in Croatia. Mato Škojo will retain a share, but Mid Europa will have a majority stake, according to a statement posted on the website of one of the leading investors in Central and Eastern Europe, reported by Jutarnji List on April 9, 2019. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to complete in Q2 2019. “We plan to help the company expand internationally, and we look forward to our partnership with Mr Škojo as he continues to support Mlinar's…