ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - A national study on non-financial reporting for 2019 and 2020, which covered nearly 100 companies, has revealed the progress of companies in including sustainable development goals in their goals.

According to the study, 46% of companies said their business was connected with sustainable development goals, compared to 18% with similar claims in 2017 and 2018.

It also showed that the number of companies required to submit non-financial reports had increased from 67 in 2017, to 76 in 2020, with the number of voluntarily published non-financial reports increasing by 23%.

In 2019/2020, there was also a considerable increase in descriptions of companies' business models, with 67% of the analysed reports including elements of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) in their business model, up from 33% in 2017/2018.

Additionally, 34% of enterprises recognised and analysed their exposure to basic environmental, social and governance risks that might adversely affect their business, while 47% included ESG in dialogue conducted with key stakeholders.

It is expected that companies will be increasingly focusing on environmental, social and governance goals and defining material topics for the purposes of non-financial reporting.

For more, make sure to check out our business section.

March the 25th, 2022 - The Croatian Infinum company, a leader when it comes to software design and development, has presented its brand new visual identity and plans for further development.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the leading Croatian software design and development company, Infinum, is currently entering a new phase of business after seventeen extremely successful years, which is marked by reorganisation, a brand new visual identity and plans for further development, as well as changes in the company's management.

"Over the last few years, the Croatian Infinum company has been developing steadily and we could say that it has ''grown up''. We wanted the brand to reflect that development and focus on the global market. New channels and ways of communication represent the bolder character of Infinum and have prepared us for new challenges. The quality of service is our top priority and, just as we did before, we're continuing to set high standards in the industry,'' said Nikola Kapraljevic, who is taking over the function of CEO within the new organisation.

Kapraljevic came to the Croatian Infinum company as the fourth employee, over the years he became one of the co-owners of the company and the COO, and in the position of CEO he will replace Tomislav Car, the co-founder of Infinum, who is set to become the company's new chairman.

“The company’s new management structure, along with a new identity, marks a new era, and is aligned with the idea of ​​Infinum becoming one of the best agencies in the world. We want to make Infinum a unique global company that won't have any competition in this area,'' said Tomislav Car.

As the CEO of Productive, a SaaS company that emerged from Infinum, Car continues to develop a product that helps other companies track their business and profitability and works to expand that company in the global marketplace. He continues to play an advisory role at the Croatian Infinum company, with a primary focus placed on strategic initiatives and investments through Infinum Ventures.

Growth, employment and new strategic acquisitions

Founded way back in 2005 in Karlovac, Infinum is now a stable company with six offices in the USA and across Europe, consisting of a team of more than 350 people. They regularly collaborate with globally renowned companies such as Disney, Philips, Porsche and KPMG to develop innovative and complex products.

Last year, Infinum ended with impressive revenues of 150 million kuna, and recorded growth of 30 percent when compared to 2020, which is more than expected. This income doesn't include the income of its sister companies Productive and Porsche Digital Croatia.

In addition to all of that, 2021 was the year of the largest expansion for Infinum across Europe, as they opened offices in the UK, Montenegro and Macedonia through acquisitions. This year, their plan is to achieve another 25 percent growth, employ another hundred people and continue with their strategic acquisitions.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 17th, 2022 - The Croatian company Span has purchased Ekobit in its thirtieth year of existence, planning new market expansion and further strengthen their already enviable position.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the Croatian company Span has taken over Ekobit, one of the leading Croatian companies for development in transactions, worth a huge 37.4 million kuna. With this, they confirmed that according to the IPO, they want to continue to grow, expand and further strengthen their position on the market.

According to the decision of the previous owners of Ekobit, a part of the price in the amount of 3.2 million kuna will be paid to the Croatian company Span shares in order to fulfill the Share Allocation Plan for Ekobit's employees.

The Croatian company Span and Ekobit are technologically compatible, have a similar approach to human resource management, export 70 percent of their revenue, and are Microsoft's Gold Partners. This acquisition will enable Span to offer an expanded portfolio of its services to a wide customer base and expand into new markets.

"When we entered our thirtieth year of existence, we realised that we needed to take another step forward. In doing so, we wanted to become part of some bigger story, and Span was the natural choice. In addition to being technologically compatible and also being Microsoft's partners, Span also suits us in size - they're bigger enough than us to give us many new opportunities, and yet they aren't so big that they'd just end up swallowing Ekobit.

According to us, the approach in human resources management in both companies is based on similar starting points, meaning that we both understand how important each person is, we value each employee and we know what the situation on the labour market in Croatia is like. Since Span has gone public on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, it now allows us to take innovative approaches in rewarding our employees, both future and existing ones,'' said the President of the Management Board of Ekobit, Goran Glisic.

The Croatian company Span currently employs 603 professionals who will be joined by Ekobit’s 70 or so, and both companies expect that number to reach around 700 soon.

"The development of software solutions is one of the four strategic segments of Span's business, and by joining Ekobit, we're now further strengthening that part. If good opportunities arise, we won't hesitate before taking further acquisitions. It's important to us that the companies we talk to fit into our technology part of business, but also in terms of strategies and target markets. HR compatibility is especially important to us. We want to further expand into the markets of Western Europe, and our goal is currently the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in which Ekobit has a strong presence,'' said the founder and CEO of Span, Nikola Dujmovic.

In addition to the development of software solutions, Ekobit stood out on the market with two products - BizDataX masking and BizDataX subsetting for the robust preparation of test data in safe secondary environments in accordance with GDPR regulations. Their experts from offices in Zagreb and Varazdin work for European clients such as Sauter, Rods & Cones, Aucxis, Erste Bank, Hrvatska postanska banka, and Posta Slovenije (Slovenian Post).

The Croatian company Span is also one of the largest IT exporters. In cooperation with 40 international partners, it operates with more than 1,200 customers, including leading global and regional corporations such as McDonald's, Tate & Lyle, Starbucks, Newsec, Infobip, Metinvest Group, Triglav, NLB, Helios, Atlantic Group, Valamar Riviera, and Croatia osiguranje (insurance).

The Span Group consists of three Croatian companies - Span d.d., Bonsai.tech and Trilix - and eight subsidiaries in neighbouring Slovenia, in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Switzerland and Moldova.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 16th, 2022 - The Croatian company Atos has obtained the ''Great Place to Work'' certificate for the third year running, placing this particular company firmly on the map for the pickier job seekers among us.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, for the third year in a row now, the Croatian company Atos has received the Great Place To Work (GPTW) certificate, the most famous sort of international recognition in the field of employee satisfaction. According to the company, both Atos companies in Croatia - Atos IT Solutions and Services and Atos Convergence Creators - have defended this much sought-after status among the best employers for 2022 as the only companies from the Republic of Croatia to obtain it at all.

The prestigious GPTW certificate is awarded to organisations that provide the best employee experience, and is awarded by the International GPTW Institute based on the results of an anonymous employee satisfaction survey and a calculation of the level of overall employee confidence index in the company.

During this examination, employees evaluate the credibility, communication and integrity of the company's management, the level of respect shown by the company's management to its other employees, fairness in recognising success, tangible and intangible rewards, promotion(s), development opportunities offered by the company, as well as pride, equality and togetherness in the workplace.

"In times like these, it's important that the employer understands its employees and the daily challenges that life places in front of them and that it adapts to them as much as possible. In addition, it is important to invest time and energy in creating great teams that serve each other as a safety net and whose collaboration empowers each individual, as with such support, a team becomes invincible.

This strength of a good team can be seen in our work, the Croatian company Atos is a business partner that clients are happy to rely on, and the strength of our team has led us to the third Great Place To Work award for the third time in a row. The Croatian company Atos is becoming a better place to work year after year, despite all the misfortunes the coronavirus pandemic has brought with it. I'm extremely proud of our great team as well as Atos' policy that employees will always come first ", said Mirela Sola, the director of the Human Resources Department at Atos.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

March the 15th, 2022 - Krk's LNG terminal contributed enormously to Croatia's export ''cake'' last year, with neighbouring Slovenia becoming the main market for the very first time.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, double-digit export growth rates, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) for the first month of this year (44 percent) and last year (28 percent), used to be just a pope dream, and although there are reasons for joy and many good developments, there isn't much space for any euphoria quite yet.

Such a percentage jump was largely due to the low comparative base, due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown in the first part of 2020 and tumbling oil and gas prices, ie the recovery of the global economy and the price jump in terms of energy costs last year.

However, the manufacturing industry has "accumulated" a record 15.4 billion euros in revenue from foreign markets and there is almost no activity that isn't now growing, and there is some good news for export statistics, too. Two events definitely marked last year, when it comes to exports - the role of LNG Croatia (the LNG terminal on Krk) and the first time in which Slovenia rose to the position of the top Croatian export market.

State statistics have recorded a real explosion when it comes to both electricity and gas exports - in just one single year the jump was as much as 421 percent, and in absolute numbers, more than a billion euros worth of the above commodities were exported.

It seems that the Krk LNG terminal contributed the most, whose imported gas quantities remained here in Croatia, and this released significant quantities of gas from other sources, primarily from Russia, which were then exported to other countries. It isn't clear from the CBS data to which countries these quantities were placed, but a visible trace of their origin is left on the import data, due to the strong growth of imports from the USA, Nigeria and Egypt.

Neighbouring Slovenia, on the other hand, ascended the export throne in the last month of last year, and judging by earlier estimates from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), the previous item from the statistical records is also crucial for such a result. In total, goods worth 2.43 billion euros were exported to Slovenia from Croatia, which is an increase of 58 percent when compared to the previous year. Just one year earlier, exports to the Slovenes weakened compared to pre-pandemic 2019 by 5.6 percent.

The neighbouring countries of Slovenia and Croatia are very focused on each other and are, as a rule, each other's third export market, but Slovenian figures are still enviable for Croatia, despite the fact that last year they had weaker export growth and significantly higher import growth than Croatia did. Last year, Slovenian exports increased by almost 20 percent and exceeded 39 billion euros, while imports, with almost 31 percent growth, amounted to 42 billion euros. Croatia was Slovenia's fourth export market, but even with high export growth, it wasn't among the top five markets from which it imports goods.

According to the SBS, Slovenia mostly imports from Germany, Italy, Switzerland, China and Austria, and their main export markets are Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and along with Croatia, Austria. Croatia's five main customers, along with Slovenia, are Italy, which just last year began to return to the first position, which it briefly handed over to Germany in 2020, and in both exports exceed 2 billion euros, while Hungary is in fourth position, with Bosnia and Herzegovina coming in fifth.

Croatia also exports more than a billion euros to nearby Austria, and a record result has been achieved on the markets of neighbouring Serbia and across the Atlantic over in the United States. Trade is also growing with Turkey, and it is interesting to note that, contrary to earlier data, the year ended with an increase in exports to China, but also a decline in imports on an annual basis. It's worth noting that the Republic of Croatia imports the most from Germany, out of a total of 28.3 billion euros, 4.2 billion came from that country, followed by Italy, Slovenia, Austria and then by China.

In the currently two most sensitive markets, Russia and Ukraine, Croatia ended the year before the crisis with 204 million euros of exports to Russia and 58 million to Ukraine, with exports to Russia growing and being the largest in six years, while in Ukraine the placement of goods was by 0.9 percent below the level recorded back during the previous year, and those two years were record years for Croatian exports to Ukraine.

Given the events of the current war and harsh sanctions against Russia, it is certain that the figures on the import side with these warring countries will remain high for Croatia; Last year, 463 million euros worth of goods entered Croatia from Russia, and 44 million came from Ukraine.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 15th, 2022 - The brand new Croatian Post Kukuljanovo logistics centre, about which there has been an enormous amount of talk, is now finally open and has provided welcome employment to more than 300 people.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the new Croatian Post Kukuljanovo logistics centre which will work to serve the wider Kvarner and Istria region, worth almost 60 million kuna, was opened last week in the Kukuljanovo Industrial Zone in the Bakar area.

On an area spanning a massive ​​4200 square metres are areas for sorting, the transport and delivery of shipments, a distribution centre and workshops, and a post office, and the new location employs more than 300 people. A modern business centre for Kvarner and Istria will improve the quality of delivery in the area as a whole.

Its construction completed Croatian Post's largest investment cycle, and Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County received one of the four most modern points in the network of sorting facilities in all of the Republic of Croatia, which includes facilities in Zadar and Osijek and a new sorting centre in Velika Gorica close to Zagreb.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic said that he was glad that the company, which is 100 percent state-owned, has been a positive example of business for years and that Croatian Post is on an equal footing with some of the world's largest competitors.

"Thoughtful investments in digitalisation and infrastructure show that the direction of development of Croatian Post is very clearly defined and is the result of a strategic direction towards the future. It's clear to us that both the present and the future of logistics are packages. The trend of strengthening e-commerce was particularly pronounced in the years of the coronavirus pandemic, when online orders grew into the double digits,'' he said.

Global changes, he pointed out, didn't come as a shock or unpleasant surprise for the company and that numerous investments in infrastructure and digitalisation have turned it into a successful modern company that has a great impact on the domestic economy and encourages the development and growth of overall logistics in this country.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 12th, 2022 - The remarkable Vodnjan-based Croatian company Infobip, which has made quite the name for itself not only here in Croatia but across the rest of Europe and indeed the world, has suspended its operations in Russia following that country's unjustified invasion of neighbouring Ukraine a couple of weeks ago.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the well known Croatian company Infobip has offices in both Ukraine and Russia, which are now two countries at war. In Russia, they have offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they employ about 200 people.

They issued a statement on Wednesday given the escalation of the conflict in which Ukraine continues to suffer horrendous attacks from hostile Russian aggressors.

"We are appalled by the suffering and humanitarian catastrophe taking place in Ukraine and our hearts are with all those affected by these horrific events," they wrote from the Croatian company Infobip.

They noted that they have been closely monitoring the unfolding situation from the very beginning in order to help their people as much as they can and attempt to ensure uninterrupted business.

"We stand by our people"

''During this time of destructive violence and destruction, we are witnessing courage, solidarity and an unsurpassed desire for peaceful solutions. All of our efforts have been focused on the safety of our colleagues in Ukraine, as well as the safety of their families and their friends. We first supported them by assisting in the evacuation and providing accommodation here in the Republic of Croatia or in other parts of the world, thus providing them with financial, physical and emotional security,'' they said in a statement.

"We are always committed to all our colleagues wherever they are in the world. This includes our employees in Russia, whose lives have also been negatively affected by the consequences of recent events,'' they added.

"We'd like to thank all the Bippers (Infobip employees) who offered up their homes as shelters and donated to the Infobip Foundation for Humanitarian Aid in Ukraine. Infobip will triple each donation made by the Foundation's employees to try to help alleviate some of this unimaginable suffering, '' the statement said.

Infobip's business in Russia has now been suspended. 

"We have restricted our business operations in Russia and suspended business with companies under sanctions," they stated from the Croatian company Infobip, adding that they are closely monitoring the situation as we go forward.

"We hope for an end to this war as soon as possible and for the restoration of peace in Ukraine," they concluded from Infobip.

For more, check out our business section.

March the 12th, 2022 - The Croatian Dok-ing company has well and truly impressed the Saudis with its recent appearance at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, during which it presented one of its most innovative creations - Komodo.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the Croatian Dok-ing company has now ended its appearance at the World Defense Show which was being held in the City of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Whilst there, it presented Komodo, a multi-purpose robotic modular system for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) hazards, which garnered a lot of curiosity and interest from the Saudi Army, Navy and National Guard.

As has previously been written about, other versions of the Croatian Dok-ing's Komodo should include the field of military engineering, logistics, electronic warfare and support for combat operations.

As such, the Croatian-made Komodo can become a very effective combat tool, a tank in fact, which can be very reliably and safely controlled remotely. The vehicle weighs a massive 12.5 tonnes, and various modules weighing up to 10 additional tonnes can be mounted onto it.

This impressive Croatian Dok-ing company machine can operate in conditions where internal combustion engines cannot operate because it has a hybrid drive. The individual cost of the system could stand at a whopping 5-10 million US dollars, depending on customer requirements and any desired additional upgrades.

The project is still in its prototype phase, and the first commercial copies should be delivered to customers in the year 2024.

Dok-ing is an entirely Croatian company, but in addition to this country, three other European Union (EU) member states are participating in an EU co-financed project - Austria, Slovenia and Hungary - and it is as such assumed that Komodo will find its place in civil protection and military units out there on the ever-demanding global market.

For more, make sure to check out Made in Croatia.

March the 10th, 2022 - Croatian tech company growth over recent years has been very impressive. Now being the home of two unicorns - the quite remarkable Vodnjan-based company for communication software solutions, Infobip, and the manufacturer of electric vehicles Rimac Automobili - this country is becoming the leading technology hub in the immediate region.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, back in pandemic-dominated 2020, the revenue of the Croatian IT sector reached a massive 4.2 billion USD thanks to continuous annual growth, especially during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, before a vaccine was on the horizon. The contribution of this industry to Croatia's overall GDP in 2020 stood at 2.5 percent.

Infobip achieved the deeply-desired unicorn status in 2020, after securing a 200 million USD investment. This company is important for the overall development of the country's technological ecosystem, as it invests in startups that develop projects in segments such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and has also opened offices in neighbouring Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Another Croatian IT company, Infinum, also wants to expand to neighbouring Montenegro. This all represents Croatian tech company growth and all of these enterprises fully intend to invest and cooperate with various universities in these countries, because in this way they will be able to be provided with access to regional IT talent in the short term. In the long term, this approach could help develop the IT industry in parts of the region that are still lagging behind in IT and where new employment opportunities need to be created. For example, Croatia's southern neighbour Montenegro could benefit, as the unemployment rate there is close to 20 percent.

Challenges for investors

The biggest challenge facing regional startups is the lack of venture capital funds and angel investors. In most cases, Croatian tech companies like Infobip have taken on the role of investors for promising local startups. Infobip runs its own Startup Tribe, a global programme dedicated to the development of regional and global startups, which now includes more than 70 startups from across 40 countries.

While EU member states Croatia and Bulgaria attracted 956m euros in investments between 2015 and 2021, the rest of the region managed to raise just 154m euros at a time, a Google report showed. This also showcases just how much European Union membership has improved Croatian tech company growth when compared with the far more negative experience of non member states.

The main reason for the above is that most countries in the region are not fully integrated into the EU. Namely, while technology companies from Croatia and Bulgaria have been successful in raising funds, EU candidates such as Macedonia or Montenegro have very much failed, mostly due to insufficient legislative and regulatory alignment with the EU, but also political instability in those nations.

For more on Croatian tech company growth and local startups, check out Made in Croatia.

March the 10th, 2022 - Communal companies located across the continent and indeed beyond it have been quick to recognise the many advantages of Rasco cleaners, and when it comes to here in Croatia, that recognition is taking a little bit longer to develop. This Kalinovac-based company is, in the global sense, firmly placing itself on the ''green'' map.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, during a time when energy prices are continually raging, and the question of whether there will be oil and gas left at all is becoming more and more common, electric vehicles are gaining more and more importance from the ecological to end user value.

Although Croatia doesn't engage in the mass production of vehicles, Croatian companies offering new technologies based on e-mobility and autonomy are increasingly positioning themselves on the demanding global market. Entrepreneur Mate Rimac is best known to the general public, but for years one of the leaders in the production of electric and autonomous machines for mines and demining has been Zagreb's Dok-Ing.

Rasco, which last year introduced an electric version of its successful Lynx Charge cleaner, is slowly entering the market. Much of the company's development is focused on e-mobility and new technologies.

According to Marko Kolar, director of development, with the emergence of electric vehicles and the strengthening of the trend of "green" vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities, they started thinking more and more about electric vehicles because many cities across Europe and the world have banned the entry of any fossil fuel vehicles into their centres.

“In the city centres themselves, especially in big cities, the issue of noise and pollution brought on by traffic is becoming an increasing focus. Lynx Charge, a Rasco cleaner, has almost all the systems that an electric car has, which makes it an extremely complex product.

We worked on its development for three years and it, together with the diesel version of Lynx, is the crown of the company's 30 years of hard work. It is intended primarily for export,'' said Kolar of this impressive Rasco cleaner. In recent days, Kolar was also named the best manager in the Research and Development (R&D) segment in the selection of the national association of managers - CROMA.

He added that Rasco has a developed distribution network in more than 40 markets and, since the introduction of the Rasco cleaner called Lynx Charge last October, they have delivered the first two vehicles to the Netherlands. The first feedback has been very optimistic because the vehicles met all customer expectations.

"We'd certainly be glad if the advantages of using electric vehicles were recognised by Croatian communal and utility companies, there's interest and we're looking forward to potential cooperation," said Kolar. Rasco, a company from Kalinovac in Podravina, is primarily an export-oriented company that generates more than 80 percent of its revenues on foreign markets.

“We're currently focused on European markets, but you can also find our products on the highways and streets of Canadian, Israeli, Chinese and Australian cities. European markets are currently most active in replacing vehicles with internal combustion engines with alternative propulsion, so most orders for Lynx Charge Rasco cleaners currently come from Europe. That said, we aren't neglecting other global markets from which more and more inquiries for electric vehicles are arriving either. The Lynx Charge is an ideal product for entering the markets of North and South America and Asia because it isn't accompanied by the restrictions related to the homologation of internal combustion engines," explained Kolar.

They noted from Rasco that Lynx and Lynx Charge belong to the class of compact vacuum cleaners, and the estimated size of the European market for this type of machine is at the level of 3000 pieces per year.

The vast majority of the market is still made up of diesel-powered cleaners, but there has been a noticeable increase in interest in electric-powered cleaners. The Lynx Charge Rasco cleaners, they say, have an advantage over competitors because Lynx has been conceived from the very beginning to be a vehicle with two types of drive, without compromising on efficiency, comfort and autonomy.

They emphasised that they wouldn't want to count their chickens before they hatch and try to predict further electrification trends as we move forward, but they think that the question is not whether electric cleaners will take over dominance over other types of drives in this class of utility vehicles, but whether it will happen in three, four or five years.

Rasco will certainly have a dog in that fight because, as they themselves pointed out, their development projects are a reflection of the harmonisation of unfolding market needs, high flexibility, quick adjustments and this gives them the opportunity to respond to very dynamic market conditions.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.