ZAGREB, 5 June 2022 - Enterprises based in the City of Zagreb netted HRK 23.6 billion in profit in 2021, accounting for 52.7% of the profit of all enterprises in Croatia, according to Financial Agency (FINA) data.

Enterprises based in the City of Zagreb, which also has county status, are first according to all criteria, except business efficiency.

A third of all enterprises in Croatia headquartered in Zagreb

The capital city has 47,956 enterprises, a national share of 33.2%, employing 370,800 workers (38.4%), and their revenue totals HRK 433.2 billion, or 48.9% of the revenue generated by all Croatian enterprises.

In 2021, enterprises in the City of Zagreb netted HRK 23.6bn in profit, up 99% on the year.

This was mainly due to the INA oil company with a profit of HRK 1.3bn, the HEP power utility with HRK 1.1 billion, and the Fortenova retail group with HRK 318.2 million. In 2020, Fortenova posted a loss of HRK 2.2bn.

Split-Dalmatia County had 15,908 enterprises last year with 81,050 employees, revenue totalling HRK 56.2bn and a net profit of HRK 2.56 billion, up 412.2% on the year.

Enterprises in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County netted HRK 2.2bn in profit last year, HRK 1.7bn more than in 2020. The county had 11,753 enterprises last year with 63,100 employees and revenue amounting to HRK 45.8bn.

Enterprises in Zadar County netted HRK 1.1bn in profit, up from HRK 74.3m in 2020. Last year 5,650 enterprises operated in the county, with 26,200 employees and HRK 17.6bn in revenue.

Zagreb County had 9,811 enterprises with 66,600 employees which generated HRK 67.8bn in revenue and HRK 2.7bn in net profit, up 16.4% on 2020.

Osijek-Baranja County had 6,134 enterprises with 43,400 employees which generated HRK 33.5bn in revenue and HRK 1.8bn in net profit, up 40.7% on 2020.

The counties with the smallest numbers of enterprises in 2021 were Lika-Senj (1,010), Požega-Slavonia (1,031) and Virovitica-Podravina (1,259). Enterprises in Lika-Senj County, for instance, had 4,918 employees and generated HRK 3bn in revenue as well as HRK 147.7m in profit.

Istria County had 11,785 enterprises last year which netted HRK 1.8bn in profit, mainly thanks to the profits of the tourism companies Valamar Riviera (HRK 304.6m), Maistra (HRK 170.6m) and Plava Laguna (HRK 145.1m).

Dubrovnik-Neretva County had 4,450 enterprises which netted HRK 517m in profit, while Šibenik-Knin County's enterprises netted HRK 217.9m in profit.

In terms of business efficiency, enterprises in Karlovac County came first, followed by those in Zadar and Krapina-Zagorje counties.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 15 May 2021 - The World Bank Board of Directors on Friday approved a loan to the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) in the amount of €200 million for the HEAL Croatia Project (Helping Enterprises Access Liquidity in Croatia), the World Bank said on Saturday.

The loan will provide liquidity and financial restructuring to firms that have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the two devastating earthquakes of 2020.

"The approval of this Project is very important as it provides support to companies affected by the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic, thus ensuring the preservation of jobs and providing an incentive for economic recovery. The additional benefit is that it will attract commercial banks to finance the private sector and facilitate financing from other international financial and contribute to increasing the operational efficiency of HBOR. It is important to emphasize that the World Bank provides this Project under very favorable conditions," said Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.

To mitigate the multiple effects of the pandemic, the Project will support firms focused on export, both small and medium enterprises (firms employing fewer than 250 people) and mid-caps firms (employing from 250 to 3,000 people).

The Project will increase access to finance for firms from less developed regions of Croatia, women-owned or managed firms, and young enterprises (operating less than five years). The Project will also support HBOR’s continued development through improved business processes, strengthens sustainability and climate change resilience, and use of EU funds.

"Favorable terms and conditions granted by the World Bank will provide us an additional source of finance for further favorable loans to our entrepreneurs. In addition, the World Bank, as the leader in the field of environmental and social management, will support HBOR in enhancing its own Environmental and Social Management System. This will be important as HBOR's activities in the coming period will be particularly committed to building more capacity for supporting sustainable projects and inclusive growth," said HBOR Management Board president Tamara Perko.

The HEAL Croatia project complements two other World Bank crisis operations approved last year, the Croatia Crisis Response and Recovery Program and Earthquake Recovery and Public Health Preparedness Project - worth together $500 million, to help mitigate the effects of the economic shock, advance recovery, facilitate earthquake reconstruction and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness for pandemic outbreaks.

"The HEAL Croatia project will contribute to a resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery of Croatia, which has been hard hit by the global pandemic, the economic recession, and the devastating earthquakes of March and December 2020," said Elisabetta Capannelli, the World Bank Country Manager for Croatia.

"We expect the HEAL project to help preserve jobs and support household livelihoods through direct support to approximately 150 firms employing around 25,000 people. It will also help firms led by women, young firms and firms that operate in less developed regions to address issues related to longer-term access to financing," she added.

In the past 27 years, the World Bank has supported more than 50 projects in Croatia worth almost $5 billion, produced numerous studies, and provided technical assistance to help strengthen institutions and support the design of policies and strategies.

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ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - Brussels will leave it to Zagreb to decide on how to distribute money from the EU Recovery Fund, the Friday issue of the Jutarnji List daily reports, noting that there are no restrictions on aid to enterprises. 

There are no strict limits in drafting the national recovery and resilience plan, through which around HRK 45 billion of EU funds will be made available to Croatia to help it recover from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, in terms of how much funds can be allocated for public investments and how much for private investments, as there is no such distinction in EU regulations.

This conclusion is based on a reply from the European Commission, after the Croatian Employers' Association asked that at least 50% of the available money be disbursed in direct grants for investments by the private sector, instead of spending most of the HRK 45 billion on investments in the public sector.

According to an interpretation presented earlier by Croatian negotiators and published by Jutarnji List, entrepreneurs would have access, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, to direct grants and loan subsidies and guarantees in the maximum amount of HRK 4.5 billion, or only 10% of the available amount. In citing the amount, Croatian negotiators referred to restrictions imposed by the EC.

Zvonimir Savić, PM Andrej Plenković's advisor and national coordinator for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, has nonetheless said that around 30% of the HRK 45 billion could end up in the private sector, if one takes into account the involvement of businesses in planned public projects, from research and development, energy transition and development of innovative tourism to stronger food supply chains, the daily says.

ZAGREB, November 7, 2020 - In 2019, there were 24,592 enterprise births in Croatia, the data on enterprise deaths are still not known, while survival rates was at the levels registered in the previous years, show the temporary data provided by the national statistical office (DZS).

The business demography for Croatia show that the enterprises, that were set up in 2019, employed 41,212 people. The ratio of the newborn enterprises to employees show that they had 1.7 workers on average.

Broken down by business activity, the largest share of newborn enterprises, 4,119, were from the expert, scientific and technical activities. There were 3,171 newborn enterprises in the construction and 2,913 in commerce.

In 2018, there were 16,667 business births and 12,160 business deaths.

An enterprise death is defined as a business that was on the active registered enterprise
dataset in a reference year, but was no longer present in the dataset in the two following reference years.

The temporary data show that survivals of the companies in the years since their establishment were similar as in the previous periods. Thus, in 2018, one-year survival rate was 85%, and in 2017 this was around 89%, while in 2016, it stood at 85%.

The data on the survival in the following four years since the enterprise birth show that of the companies, born in 2015, 57% were active in 2019.

When it comes to the five-year survival rates, of the companies, set up in 2014, 56% of them were still active in 2019.

The DZS statistics show that in 2019, as many as 209,317 enterprises were active and they employed 1.23 million workers.

The highest share of hired workers, 272,521, were in the processing industry, and 244,029 were employed in construction businesses, while 121,049 were in hospitality services businesses.

ZAGREB, September 22, 2020 - The Dubrovnik-based Improtanne Resort hotel company was given two Financial Agency (FINA) Golden Balance awards on Tuesday - for the most financially successful business according to financial ratings and for the most successful business in the hospitality sector in 2019.

Since 2008, FINA has been giving the annual awards to best businesses in several fields according the criteria of their profitability, liquidity, debts, activities and cost efficiency.

Of the 136,260 businesses which submitted financial statements, FINA shortlisted 2.9%, or 4,008 businesses: 178 micro-enterprises, 2,582 small enterprise, 1,005 medium-sized enterprises and 243 big companies. 

For instance, the Rijeka-based Ugor company won this year's award for the most successful enterprise in the sector of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the Orahovica-based Radlovac was the winner in mining, Jadranska Vrata from Rijeka in transport and logistics, H&M in trade, the Cepin-based Iver was the most successful business in construction, Zagrebinspekt in the sector of expert, scientific and technical activities.

This year, the award-giving ceremony was held for the first time in a digital form. Addressing this event online, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric recalled that 2019 would be remembered as a year with great achievements of Croatian entrepreneurs.

However, the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has imposed new challenges on all of us, he admitted.

Since the start of the crisis, Croatia's government has been managing the situation in a timely and appropriate manner, the minister said.

So far, seven billion kuna has been granted under the schemes aimed at the support to wages and job retention, he added.

FINA management board chair: 2019 with record results for Croatia's economy

The FINA management board president Drazen Covic said that 2019 was a year with record results for doing business in Croatia.

"In terms of the total revenues, Croatia's economy rose by more than 10%," Covic said.

The profit of businesses increased by six percent, and investments in non-material and material assets strongly grew, by 15%, and exports increased by more than six percent, he said.

Since 2020 FINA has been monitoring the trends in employment, and last year, entrepreneurs employed a record high number, nearly 970,000 workers, Covic said.

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ZAGREB, Aug 20, 2020 - In 2019 the average pay for 969,776 people working for 136,260 businesses in the enterprise sector amounted to HRK 5,815, which is an increase of 4.2% compared to 2018.

An analysis by the Financial Agency (FINA) shows that in three activities with the largest number of employees - construction, wholesale and retail trade, employees received an average pay that was below the national average.

There was nevertheless progress in relation to 2018 because in the commercial sector, where 28,800 businesses employ 195,900 workers, wages grew by 4% from 2018 to HRK 5,596, while in the construction sector, 16,200 businesses employed 96,900 workers and the average wage saw an increase of 2.8% to HRK 5,167.

In the processing industry, 14,900 businesses employed 240,100 workers and their average pay were HRK 5,923, an annual rise of 4.6%.

There were also 12,700 businesses with 78,900 workers in services related to the provision of accommodation and food preparation and serving, and the average pay in that activity was HRK 5,064, 3.3% up from 2018.

Highest pay in mining and quarrying

The average pay was the highest in mining and quarrying, HRK 8,485, 1.8% up from 2018, and 45.9% higher than the national average. A total of 219 businesses with 3,600 workers were active in mining and quarrying.

The lowest net average pay was reported in other service activities and it amounted to HRK 4,394.

(€1 = HRK 7.52)

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