The Croatian Employers' Association score which measures the implementation of reforms in twelve key areas puts the Republic of Croatia at the very bottom of the European Union.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of November, 2018, after the World Bank and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) showed data this past month that proved the country is lagging behind in terms of business and investment climate, the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) has confirmed this unfavourable position once again with its HUP score. Moreover, according to HUP, which, as stated, measures the implementation of reforms across twelve key areas, it appears that Croatia has the worst score in the EU, even worse than countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, which are still considered weaker and less developed than Croatia.

"The first significant shift from the beginning of the measure of the HUP score (op.a. 2013) has been confirmed, but Croatia is still at the back end of the ''New Europe''. It's obvious that the country doesn't possess the capacity for quick economic growth and convergence. The problems with the entrepreneurial climate aren't caused by culture and mentality, but primarily by weak institutions,'' they state from HUP, adding that, first and foremost, the system of public and state enterprises needs to be reduced, restructured, professionalised, depoliticised, and then privatised, and that's how more investments will occur.

These preliminary results indicate that the HUP score for 2018 stands at 37, which is one point less than it was last year.

"This result shows that Croatia also lags considerably in regard to EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe (EU10) this year. Economic growth, which was re-established in 2015 after a long six-year crisis, was an indicator of economic strength and good looks. The lessening of that score for this year should be interpreted as an indication that the current growth impulse has a cyclical or rather passing character. Deep economic and institutional structures remain weak due to the lack of reforms,'' they note from HUP.

Not one figure in the aforementioned twelve areas exceeds 2/3 of the maximum value, which means that Croatia doesn't have a strong competitive edge in some areas. The biggest visible improvement can be seen in regard to fiscal consolidation (from 54 in 2017 to 56 in 2018), productivity and competitiveness (from 34 to 45), and capital supply (from 36 to 42). The HUP score of the education and pension system is still "in the red ", but was held at 26, while the justice system stands at at 33.

The biggest negative change can be seen in terms of the fall of the investment score and needless limitations and business barriers (from 35 in 2017 to 23 in 2018), following the rise in the cost of establishing a company and increasing the number of procedures for obtaining building permits and dealing with public administration due to the rapid growth in the number of days needed to launch a business. The areas of economic burden (19) and the labour market (22) continue to be critical, year on year. Gordana Deranja, the president of HUP, believes that Croatia is experiencing weak progress and is stagnating because other countries are more successful and faster when it comes to adapting properly to new circumstances and conditions.

"The burden on the economy is still high, which is why we can't be completely satisfied with the last wave of tax changes. Although we do consider them to be a step in the right direction, they're insufficient to give the economy a more serious positive incentive, and it's necessary to maintain the current growth rates, this relates particular to the burden on [taxes on] salaries.

The [situation with the] labour market situation is really difficult. There is not enough of a qualified workforce, and the pressure on wage growth is high. The problem is that with the current burdens, tax and everything else, employers have no room for further and more substantial salary increases without jeopardising the viability of their business. Instead of looking for room for greater decompression on companies and people, our budget continues to grow. Obviously, we haven't learned anything from the crisis. As a country, we continue to spend more than we make. We're just part of the expensive credits, which have now been replaced by funds from European Union funds, and these funds are the only development moment for the budget for 2019. There's no indication of any serious reforms in it [the budget], and that's what we all need to worry about,'' stated Deranja.

Davor Majetić, the Croatian Employers' Association's chief executive, pointed out that without stronger economic growth, nothing will stop more people from leaving the country, especially young people and those who make up Croatia's labour force.

"A serious labour shortage can endanger this kind of growth we now have, which is not the only problem for employers, it's a problem that needs to be solved systematically and comprehensively, the question of whether or not there will be enough maids, waiters, traders, etc depends on the salaries of doctors, teachers, policemen and soldiers,'' said Majetić, adding that everything that the Croatian Employers' Association points to as neuralgic points continue on being repeated from year to year - the burden on the economy, the labour market, the health system, the education and pension system, and the judiciary.

"The government is taking steps, but they're not enough because the huge problems we've inherited are enormous, and the changes we're making aren't going deep enough, nor are they big enough to be called reforms, which is why their reach is so limited, and when compared to other countries, we continue to remain behind them, trapped at the bottom of the European Union,'' concluded Majetić.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and politics pages for more information on the Croatian Employers' Association, the domestic economic situation, and potential reforms.

Click here for the original article by Darko Bicak for Poslovni Dnevnik

Croatia's shipyards are struggling, and for a long time the state has had its hands firmly tied when it comes to offering them potential ways out of their issues. Uljanik's workers have previously gone as far as to take to the streets in protest against the way in which they're being treated, often going dangerously long periods without being paid. 

Issues at the very top of the management board have resulted in long wage delays for dedicated employees who have been made so desperate they have gone on strike, but it seems as of tomorrow, things will return to normal, at least for now...

As Morski writes on the 18th of November, 2018, in spite of the payment of minimum wages, negotiations between the Croatian Government and Uljanik's unions apparently did manage to bring fruit, as was announced on Monday, and the strike in which Uljanik's employees have continuously held since October the 22nd should come to an end.

''We've been paid the minimum for now, and we were promised that we'd not have to wait so long in October. We simply decided that it was time to stop the strike, because that's what the shipowners expect from us. We will be the ones ending ourselves if we don't continue to work. We'll take a fifteen day break from strike activities, but we won't disband the strike board,'' said Đino Šverko, a member of Uljanik's strike board, for N1.

He also said that Uljanik's employers had nothing against Uljanik and May 3 being separated.

''We have to start thinking about work. The strike is going on and on, if it lasts until the end of the month, we'll end up closing everything ourselves, we can't see a way out. We're starting work, we'll carry out our tasks and then everything remains in the hands of the the Croatian Government,'' Deni Širol told N1.

For more information on the state of the domestic economy, Croatian companies, business and the possible fate of Uljanik, make sure to follow our dedicated business page.

With the acquisition of numerous shopping centres, is Croatia entering a new European retail market?

As Ana Blaskovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of November, 2018, the consolidation process continues on the domestic real estate market; with Austria's Immofinanz announcing the takeover of two shopping centers, STC Osijek and STC Valpovo, as part of a larger regional transaction worth about 90.5 million euro.

Immofinanz is also taking over eight ''retail'' parks in Slovenia and Serbia, as well as here in Croatia, totaling about 68,000 square metres. The value of the part of the transaction pertaining to the Republic of Croatia has not yet been published, but the entire package, Croatia's part relates to the smallest surface area of approximately 13,500 square metres, from which the Austrian MID group is leaving, the group is probably best known for its relations with the Garden Mall in Zagreb, which was sold to Supernova earlier.

In addition to Croatia, the MID group handed over three ''retail'' parks in Maribor, Krško and Ptuj in neighbouring Slovenia to Immofinanz, totaling 22,000 square metres. Owing to that, Immofinanz's Slovenian portfolio has risen to 52,300 square metres of rentable surface.

The Serbian retailer is MPC group, founded by Serbian businessman Petar Matić, and according to the latest available data, a third of the company was sold to Atterbury Europe back in 2015. Acquisitions in Serbia include 32,000 square feet of rentable land in Subotica, Borčija, and Smederevo. Stop Shop, Immofinanz's brand of retail parks, will in the future operate in nine locations and across 83,600 square metres.

Among the dealers are very well known names like Deichmann, H&M, C&A, Takko, KiK and Jysk, and the shopping centres will soon undergo rebranding, after which they will operate under Immofinanz's Stop Shop concept.

"These acquisitions reinforce our position as the leading European ''retail'' park operator, and, when speaking about Croatia, this marks our entry into a new European retail market that is extremely interesting to our international leasing companies. Good locations, excellent business, good competitiveness of local situations and classical ones, and a healthy mix of tenants are the main features of these attractive investment opportunities,'' said Dietman Reindl, the executive director of Immofinanz in a statement.

The reporters say that the exit of MID from two more centres (after leaving Zagreb's Garden Mall and centres in Koprivnica and Sisak) is the expected consequence of the pace of the new cycle on the market given the fact that its strength lies in project development, and for it to be the operator.

Click here for more business news from Croatia.

Click here for the original article by Ana Blaskovic on Poslovni Dnevnik

Just how is Croatia doing when it comes to the proper use of EU funds? With many irregularities reported, in 2023, the line will be drawn and all of Croatia's unused capital will be returned to the budget of the European Union.

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of November, 2018, this year, we slowly began to see the effects of Croatia's earlier contracts from the current financial period 2014-2020, and the anxiety is clear after the state budget rebalance due to the dynamics of the use of available funds from European Union funds.

The question of whether or not it will be possible to actually spend the total allocation, which comes with a deadline of 2023, when the line will be drawn and the unused capital will be returned to the EU budget. In 2023, it will also be clear how many Croatian users of EU funds have managed to really fit into the rules that the EU actually set for the use of that money, as public procurement procedures and related irregularities are still rather sore points.

Of the available data, during this financial period for the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Program, a total of more than 700 suspected irregularities were reported, and of over 650 of those reported irregularities, over 500 reports were actually found to be true, while apparent issues with 150 applications were never properly established. The most frequent irregularities were detected during project implementation for the misapplication of the rules of public procurement.

Several major cases went public and attracted some very negative media attention to this issue over the past year; the construction of the Dugo Selo - Križevci railway line, which due to the established irregularities had to return five percent of the money, about 60 million kuna, and the renovation project of student homes in Zagreb worth 220 million kuna, are just a couple of them.

Because of the breach of public procurement rules, the rule-breaking of the Student centre project in particular threatens Croatia with significant sanctions. The final decision from Brussels on the matter is still pending.

However, such examples are, if not on such a huge scale, still rather common, and the competent state institutions have said that the most irregularities have been found in construction projects, as well as in numerous water supply projects.

"Our users are still accustomed to the old rules of public procurement, so many projects are presenting with such anomalies," they state.

Ariana Vela, the owner of the College of EU Projects, has analysed data from the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, implemented by the Central Finance and Contracting Agency for EU Programs and Projects (SAFU), according to which 183 decisions on irregularities have been made so far for as many as 75 users. In 130 cases, irregularities were identified.

"They are all projects from different sectors, but it's important to point out that, over time, the costs are growing," Vela said. Given that for the time being, most of the irregularities have been identified in the phase of implementation, particularly in the segment of public procurement, Vela says to expect a real wave of financial corrections to follow over the coming period, which could have a very serious impact on the public budget.

The projects aren't being stalled or delayed by the aforementioned irregularities, at least not in a procedural sense, but the fact is that financial corrections do have an impact on the final EU contribution, on the beneficiaries of the project, as well as the cash flow if the project is still in the pipeline. In terms of when the projects are completed and the irregularities are subsequently determined, the question that remains is how the individual will return that money.

For more information on Croatia's use of EU funds, doing business in Croatia and the domestic economic climate, make sure to follow our business page.

Click here for the original article by Marija Brnic for Poslovni Dnevnik

With talk of a brand new digital Croatia becoming ever louder, it seems that the powers that be are following suit.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of November, 2018, when talking about digital money, especially in the context of whether or not Croatia really needs a form of ''cryptokuna'', the example of Sweden was pointed out. Due to the high level of digital payments and the development of practices where retailers and banks have begun refusing paper money, Sweden decided to introduce a digital krona.

Croatia will not take the same path as Sweden and simply introduce digital currency, but it will have an instant payment system from December onwards, not only in euros but in Croatian kuna. This was announced at the BUG F2 Future of Fintech conference held in Zagreb by the executive director of CNB/HNB (Croatian National Bank)'s payments sector, Ivan Biluš.

The new system will most help banks to carry out business with their fintch players, especially Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. It will also affect the strength of their relationships with card holders who see the ability to make fast payments anywhere as perhaps the most important thing. Biluš noted that the system, which would have the support of the CNB TIPS payment system, will be launched alongside that of the European Central Bank (ECB) on the 30th of November, 2018.

"As of January 2019, we'll not only have European instant payments in Croatia which are based on the euro, but also Croatian ones [based on the kuna], which will enable the instant transfer of the kuna", says Biluš. He said that banks in Croatia could negotiate the terms of the new service with the CNB/HNB by December, but also stressed that he didn't expect the first commercial example of the service to actually be on the market before January next year.

TIPS will enable banks to offer services that are already on offer in the United States and in the United Kingdom, where customers can quickly transfer money from their bank account using IBAN to a foreign IBAN account.

Some of the most well known applications which use fast pay include PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash and Zelle, but also Google Wallet and Facebook Messenger. Despite the country's desire for a digital Croatia, these apps are not yet available with such a payment function here on the Croatian market.

Biluš repeated several times during his presentation that the race between the fintech and the banks is an unequal one, but that major changes are expected on both sides shortly. He said that the EU, with the ECB, has its own interest in creating a single digital market for the European Union and that it was that which made the central bank enter into this business.

Although the ECB initially announced that the TIPS would cost 0.2 cents per transaction, work within ten seconds and set a limit on the transaction amount to 15,000 euros, the executive director of the payment sector at the CNB claims that the transaction cost will be 0.1 percentage points, and that the money transfer will be able to be completed in no more than two seconds.

Want to keep up with more news like this and get better acquainted with the potential new digital Croatia? Make sure to follow our business page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

At the end of October this year, the Agrokor story drew quiet. Namely, the largest insolvency proceeding in the history of trade law in the Republic of Croatia, as well as the largest restructuring process in Croatia, finally came to an end.

As Marina Sunjerga/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 12th of November, 2018, by endorsing the credibility of Agrokor's creditor settlement in late October, the huge process to rescue Agrokor from the pits drew to a close. The rescue of this huge company was an incredibly intense process which has dominated both the economy and the media over the past two years, naturally finding itself among the ''nominees'' for the economic event of 2018.

Over the space of more than eighteen months, agreements between Agrokor's many creditors have been marked by many overtakings, new institutions, political pressure on members of the Government headed by Andrej Plenković, numerous affairs and messy public overthrows. Under the enormous pressure, the company had to manage to somehow continue to do business, which was, in many moments, extremely difficult.

However, thanks to Fabris Peruško, Agrokor's government appointed extraordinary commissioner, and the trust of suppliers in the positive outcome of the whole story, the formerly ailing company has experienced increased profitability and stabilised business.

Most creditors will have to debts of about six billion kuna paid by shares in the ''new'' Agrokor, more specifically the new corporation structure to which Agrokor's assets will be transferred, which will be set up during the next few months of implementing all creditors' arrangements.

Part of the supplier's debt has been billed in cash, and some financial institutions secured part of those claims via refinancing through a roll-up arrangement of up to 1 billion euro. Agrokor, more specifically its sixteen largest companies, posted revenues of 16 billion kuna after the tourist season, with virtually 1.5 billion kuna of operating profit.

Fabris Peruško emphasised that the company was operating better than it was before, and recalled that the deal was agreed with the support of creditors who hold 80 percent of Agrokor's total debts in their hands.

Widespread support for the creditors' deal proposed by the extraordinary administration was the goal that began at a hearing held at the beginning of July this year. To recall, the shares were divided so that the Russian banks Sberbank and VITB held a share of 46.7 percent of Agrokor. The issue of the shareholders' position has still not been resolved, with a settlement reserving 25 percent of the stake in Agrokor, but issues around those assets can only come to trial if they manage to actually prove that their claims that are still being challenged.

Domestic banks received about 12 percent of the company, and the suppliers paid part of the debts with a five percent stake in the new corporate structure. However, thanks to their representatives, Marica Vidaković from Kraš and Marin Pucar from Podravka, they won high-quality positions to continue with their business.

As part of the settlement, there is a guaranteed placement of goods to all of Agrokor's retail chain stores for the next five years, including Konzum, Konzum BIH, Mercator, and Idea. Additionally, if Konzum is operating with operating profits of ess than 40 million over the next four years, it will pay another 75 million euros in cash for the marginal debt.

The implementation of Agrokor's creditor settlement has taken over 100,000 steps, with a workforce of 500 people. It is now necessary to prepare the company for the entry of its new owners, which means that the new corporate structure and new companies will have to transfer over all of their assets, certificates, concessions, labour contracts, brands, and the list goes on,

However, the most demanding business currently in the hands of Agrokor's extraordinary management team is the refinancing of the much-talked-about roll-up loans.

Namely, by the end of December, this one-billion-euro arrangement will come with an eight percent interest rate, but in January, that will jump up to ten percent, and Agrokor will the be required to pay a one-time fee of 75 million kuna to its numerous creditors. By September 2019, that interest would have jumped up to 14 percent. The extraordinary management team hope to refinance the loan by the end of the year.

The various challenges ahead of Agrokor have remain high, since only when the new owners take over the company, set their own people and determine the business strategy, will it be realistically possible to estimate in which way Agrokor's business will affect the domestic economy.

However, regardless of the future of Agrokor, the rescue of the huge company can finally be hailed to have been a successful process which has saved the Croatian economy. With this long and arduous process, a devastating domino effect was avoided, panic was stopped, and the food industry was stabilised.

The fact that most of Agrokor's suppliers recorded a successful business year shows that large companies operating under the Agrokor Group's umbrella have taken the opportunity to consolidate and adapt to new market circumstances. After its long and painful restructuring process, Agrokor remains one of the strongest and most important companies in the domestic economy.

Want to keep up with more news on Agrokor, business and the Croatian economy? Make sure to follow our business page.

Click here for the original article by Marina Sunjerga/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik

After finding its place in the country's capital, Hilton is looking for further potential locations and opportunities along the Croatian coast for its Canopy hotels as Cappelli cites an investment in tourism for 2019.

As we reported yesterday, in a huge investment in tourism, Canopy by Hilton has found its way to the Croatian capital of Zagreb, but the search for possible hotel locations isn't over for the highly respected hotel company yet. 

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 12th of November, 2018, the brand nurtures local culture, and this is Canopy by Hilton's very first hotel in continental Europe. After the opening in Zagreb, such hotels in desirable European capitals are set to open, including London, Madrid, and Paris.

Hotel Canopy by Hilton, a massive eight million euros worth of investment by Hrvoje Pezić's Zagreb City Hotels company, was opened on Monday in Zagreb's Branimir Centre.

The lifestyle brand is, as stated, set to take numerous other European cities. It nurtures local culture, and domestic designers, including Studio Franić and Šekoranja, as well as Croatian furniture manufacturers, who are engaged in decorating the Zagreb hotel, as pointed out from Hilton.

In the hotel itself, you can find various pieces of Zagreb's long history, from folklore to its rich scientific and industrial heritage, as well as some of the capital city's typical traditional dishes presented in a new, modern way at the ReUnion restaurant.

The hotel boasts 151 rooms, a restaurant and bar, a fitness room, a retreat room, a transfer room and two meeting rooms.

''After DoubleTree, we're opening Canopy, and we're expecting the opening of Garden Inn next year. We're exceptionally proud of this hotel and we're happy to have had such good cooperation. Croatia is an extremely important market for Hilton. It has a wonderful coastline and we're already looking to expand there and develop our hotels there, but the City of Zagreb is also of utmost importance because it's growing, and we also want to participate in that,'' stated Alan Mantin, Managing Director of Hilton for the development in southern Europe.

Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli emphasised that this investment with the world-renowned brand will contribute to the even better positioning of Zagreb as well as Croatia as a destination which boasts a high quality offer.

Want to keep up with more news on hotel openings, investments in tourism, or just news in Zagreb? Make sure to follow our travel, lifestyle, and Total Zagreb pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Marija Crnjak for Poslovni Dnevnik

Could Slavonia become Croatia's very own Tuscany through the story of its local wine? Possibly, as Kutjevo has seen a massive 54 million kuna investment into its new area.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of November, 2018, on Friday in Kutjevo in Slavonia, a new investment in the Galić winery worth a massive 54 million kuna was presented, the huge investment will increase the winery's capacity by as much as one-third, as they announced.

Of the 54 million kuna, 35 million kuna was invested in the building itself and another 19 million kuna into the equipment. Winery owner Josip Galić pointed out that the winery will remain a boutique winery, and will follow all the current trends, continuing to produce quality wines, rather than focus on mass production.

"Although our winery could be considered a miracle of modern technology and has equipment that even the world-renowned wineries would envy, we're just starting to build our story in Kutjevo. The ultimate goal is to develop the whole region, we want to make a Croatian Tuscany out of Slavonia, as it justifiably deserves it,'' explained Josip Galić, the owner of the winery. The CEO of Galić wine, Andrej Markulin, pointed out that this year, the winery is celebrating ten years of business and wants to intensify its production of "serious" wines in the long run.

The winery in Slavonia looks simply like brick and concrete, but attracts tourists and wine lovers from all over the world, and the attraction is intensified just by viewing the interior and getting to know the equipment that the world's best manufacturers are currently offering.

"With new technology and equipment, we have all the conditions [available to us] to achieve this goal very quickly," he pointed out. The winery began with seven hectares of vineyards and 30,000 bottles of wine. Today, there are 55 hectares, and some of the grapes are from local wine growers.

The capacity of the new winery is 630,000 bottles, which is 30 percent more than there is at the minute, and their annual production is 330,000 litres. In addition to wine production and grape growing, Galić launched chestnut and blueberry growing this year, into which there will be an additional investment of 8.5 million kuna.

Want to keep up with more news like this from Slavonia and from across the country? Make sure to follow our lifestyle and Made in Croatia pages for more.

When Marin Pucar took over Podravka back in February last year, he comically stated, "Once you go Podravka, you're always Podravka!"

As Marina Sunjerga/VL/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of November, 2018, Pucar experienced returning to the large domestic food company, at which he worked for twelve years, very emotionally. Pucar also has many goals and plans set up for the huge company to aim for.

Pucar's big plans for Podravka were soon realised because the Koprivnica-based food company achieved net operating profits of a massive 186 million kuna during the first nine months of 2018, which is the best result and the highest operating profit in Podravka's long history. These sparkling financial results saw employee salaries increase by 1000 kuna and the company get closer to reaching its goal of being a food business consolidator in Croatia, these praiseworthy achievements brought Pucar to his very well-deserved nomination for businessman of the year for 2018.

It is also important to point out his engagement in resolving the crisis in Agrokor from his position as the president of the association of Agrokor's suppliers, which acted uniquely to protect the interests of domestic companies.

''Podravka is a very good company'', said Pucar when he came to the head of the company, but added that it can and should be better because Podravka is much more than just its numerous brands and products.

In just a year and a half of his mandate, Marin Pucar has achieved excellent results with his team. He announced Vegeta's strong development, involving a wide range of products. In his vision and strategy, Vegeta will be branded completely with the culinary field, and all kinds of dishes.

''That's the aim, if we succeed, and we believe that we will,'' Pucar said in an interview for Večernji list.

''We'll secure Vegeta for another hundred years, and add new, additional value for Podravka,'' added Pucar.

Among the priorities, Pucar also emphasised the improvement of the rights and the material conditions of employees as the company's most valuable resource. ''Without satisfied workers, there can be no successful company,'' Pucar said. Namely, The salaries of the lowest paid employees in Podravka will increase by about 1000 kuna a month, which is one of the moves other entrepreneurs must follow if they truly want to retain quality workers.

The lowest wage in Podravka now amounts to 4,000 kuna per month. Through a collective contract, Podravka's employees have been granted a jubilee reward, and the company will pay them 1000 kuna per year for voluntary pension savings, which will eventually provide them with larger pensions when they retire. One of the goals that Pucar has set in front of him is, as stated, to position Podravka as a consolidator for the food industry, as well as the generator of the development of domestic agricultural production.

Accordingly, the company is expanding its cooperation with subcontractors and domestic OPGs to ensure that by the year 2022, its global brands such as Vegeta are secure. To achieve this goal requires a two to three year investment cycle, but the capacities needed by Podravka are sufficient to trigger a serious segment of Croatian agriculture. Part of the financing of these investments was secured by the company from EU funds.

Podravka itself has an impressive investment potential of around 200 million euro, so new acquisitions could realistically be expected. The company's presence on numerous traditional markets such as that of Poland, Hungary, and Russia, is set to increase. Pucar also played an important role in the rehabilitation of the formerly ailing Agrokor Group from the position of the president of the Association of Agrokor's suppliers.

The challenge was to protect and preserve the rights and interests of Agrokor's suppliers, while at the same time not compromise the position of Agrokor, and Agrokor's giant Konzum as the largest domestic retail chain. Unlike various other companies, Podravka didn't stop its deliveries to the then suffering Konzum, thereby confirming its responsibility for the continuation of Konzum's operations and the preservation of jobs.

The successful running of this extremely complex process resulted in the stabilisation of Agrokor's operations, a large part of the Croatian economy, and the preservation of Agrokor's supplier stability.

Otherwise, Pucar has spent most of his career in the food industry. He started his professional career at Gavrilović back in 2001, and one year later, he was in Podravka's meat industry, Danica, where he was the director of sales, marketing and development. He quickly moved to Podravka's high position of director for the Croatian market, and from 2008 to 2012, he was a member of the management of the company.

After five years with Podravka, he went to Zvečevo, which he led before returning as Podravka's main man.

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Click here for the original article by Marina Sunjerga/VL on Poslovni Dnevnik

Is an economic boost on the horizon for one leading regional producer with two manufacturing plants based here in Croatia? An extremely large cash injection might suggest exactly that.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of November, 2018, Addiko European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Addiko Bank have approved the DIV Group, which is otherwise the leading regional hardware and metal solutions manufacturer, a financial package of a massive total value of 30 million euro.

The funds are intended for the further investment in the long-term development of the DIV Group, with the end goal to be an increase of overall energy efficiency, the strengthening of sustainable working capital, and the restructuring of the leading group's balance sheet.

DIV Group is the leading regional manufacturer of numerous items in the wider region, and it boasts two production plants in Croatia, a well as plants in neighbouring Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through continuous investments in modernisation, development, new technology and staff, DIV Group has become one of the strongest producers in the entire metal industry and as a well repected and well established supplier of equipment, in the eyes of both the railway program and the automotive industry, exporting about 90 percent of its production.

Addiko Bank Croatia is well known for providing an economic boost or two, part of an international financial banking group that actively supports the growth of local businesses in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. As of 2017, Addiko Bank has been the sixth largest bank in the Republic of Croatia in terms of total assets.

The EBRD loan has been approved under the Direct Finance Framework, which is intended to finance the growth and development of local businesses. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a leading investor in the region and has otherwise invested a huge 3.7 billion euro in Croatia, in more than 200 different projects so far.

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