ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange's Crobex index went up 0.06% to 1,889.05 points on Friday, while the Crobex10 dipped 0.07% to 1,185.06 points, and regular turnover was only HRK 3.5 million.

No stock crossed the million kuna mark and the most traded one was the Valamar Riviera tourism company, turning over HRK 888,000. It closed at HRK 29.50 per share, the same as on Thursday.

Forty-one stocks traded today, with 13 increasing in price, 14 decreasing and as many staying the same.

(€1 = HRK 7.569904)

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ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - The Voice of Entrepreneurs association considers that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as proposed by the government, will destroy the chances for economic recovery, and calls for a radical change in the document.

In order for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to have a greater impact, priority should be given to investments in the private sector, the association said in a statement issued on Friday.

Entrepreneurs think that the plan will not direct enough funds to small and medium-sized enterprises and that that will have a negative impact on the entire economy.

Unlike other countries, they add, Croatia does not intend to direct most of the funds from the recovery plan to the business sector and the most affected companies, sectors and citizens.

The current recovery and resilience plan relies mainly on state and local government projects and projects with low and long-term returns, and in some cases negative returns, which is contrary to the general goal of rapid recovery, the association said.

It is true, they add, that the plan envisages distributing 54% of the funds for the business sector and 46% for reforms in the public sector, but the 54% intended for the business sector includes investments in public companies that have so far demonstrated low efficiency, such as wastewater projects, waste management, road and transport infrastructure construction.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan is thus not aimed at helping the private sector and encouraging the competitiveness of the Croatian economy, the association of entrepreneurs said, stressing that the existing plan is not oriented towards rapid recovery of domestic demand, investment in high return projects and technological innovation.

They call for prioritising private sector investment and focusing on high return projects.

Last week, the government presented the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for 2021-2026, which contains project proposals in six areas, worth a total of HRK 49.08 billion.

Of that, 54% is intended for projects in the business sector, 15% for education, science and research, 12% for building reconstruction, 10% for public administration and justice, 5% for health care and 4% for the labour market and social protection.

Digitisation and green energy transition feature in all six areas in the document.

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ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices on Thursday continued rising and the stock market saw a turnover of HRK 12.5 million, of which HRK 6.2 million was generated by a block transaction with Atlantic Group shares.

The Crobex rose by 0.35% to 1,887.88 points and the Crobex10 by 0.21% to 1,185.88 points.

The main indices rose for the second consecutive day, reaching their new highest levels since the end of February 2020.

Regular trading amounted to HRK 6.3 million, 2.8 million more than on Wednesday.

Another 6.2 million was generated in a block transaction with Atlantic Group shares.

Only the HT telecom operator turned over more than one million kuna in regular trading, around 1.02 million, with the price of its shares falling by 0.26% to HRK 193.

(€1 = HRK 7.567065)

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ZAGREB, 7 April, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices rose on Wednesday amid a modest turnover, totalling only HRK 3.5 million.

The Crobex went up 0.30% to 1,881.26 points and the Crobex10 rose by 0.48% to 1,183.39 points.

Turnover was modest, only HRK 3.5 million, around 2.2 million less than on Tuesday.

The most traded stock was the HT telecommunications company, generating a turnover of HRK 281,700, with its price going up 0.31% to HRK 1,605 per share. 

The ZSE reported that as of 8 April the Dukat dairy producer would no longer be listed on the ZSE. After the transfer of a minority shareholder interest in Dukat was entered in the court register on Tuesday and the interest was transferred to the account of the main shareholder, B.S.A. International, the Belgian daughter company of the French Lactalis, the ZSE will no longer list Dukat's shares.

Minority shareholders, who held 139,880 or 4.66% of Dukat shares, will get HRK 928 per share.

(€1 = HRK 7.560970)

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - A total of 4,165 new passenger cars were sold in Croatia in March 2021, an increase of 52.9% on the same month of last year, according to the data provided by the Promocija Plus market research agency.

The increase in sales is seen as the result of a more favourable buying environment than last spring when the country was under tighter restrictions to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

In the first three months of this year, Volkswagen sold the most new cars in Croatia - 1,810, accounting for 17.2% of total sales. It was followed by Škoda with 1,408 vehicles sold and a market share of 13.4%, Hyundai (414 vehicles, 5.8% share), Renault (595, 5.6%) and Dacia (591, 5.6%).

The Škoda Octavia remained the best selling model, with 214 units sold in March, ahead of the Dacia Duster (192 vehicles), the VW T-Cross ( 167), the VW Golf (143) and the VW T-Roc (137). Thirty-one Teslas, 18 Porches and 2 Ferraris were also sold last month.

Since the start of the year, 5,535 buyers (52.6%) bought petrol vehicles, 3,053 (29%) opted for diesel-fuelled vehicles, 141 (1.3%) chose electric cars, 323 (3.1%) purchased vehicles powered by natural gas, and 1,467 (13.9%) preferred hybrids.

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices broke a positive streak on Tuesday, with the Crobex decreasing by 0.05% to 1,875.57 points and the Crobex10 by 0.17% to 1,177.76 points.

Turnover at the close of the trading session was HRK 5.7 million, about 1.4 million higher than on Thursday, the last trading day before the Easter break.

None of the stocks passed the turnover mark of one million kuna. The highest turnover, of HRK 777,200, was generated by the Valamar hotel company, whose stock fell by 0.35% to HRK 28.80 per share.

A total of 36 stocks traded today, with 14 of them recording share price decreases, 9 registering price increases and 13 remaining stable in price.

(€1 = HRK 7.565435)

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its growth forecast for the Croatian economy for this year from 6.0% to 4.7%, expecting a pickup in economic activity and a return to the pre-pandemic level in 2022.

The Croatian economy contracted by 9.0% in 2020, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, reaffirming its forecast from last autumn. The national economy is expected to grow by 5.0% in 2022 and thus exceed the pre-pandemic growth level.

The IMF included Croatia among the emerging European economies that are expected to record the highest growth rates this year and the next.

This year, only Turkey and Romania are projected to achieve higher growth rates, of 6%, and the Serbian economy is expected to grow at a rate of 5.0%. Next year, a higher rate is forecast only for the Hungarian economy, of 5.7%.

The economic activity of the emerging European economies should rise by 4.4% this year, half a percentage point higher than projected last autumn, while next year it is expected to slow down to 3.9%.

Projections of current account deficit and unemployment revised down

Croatia's current account deficit is forecast at 2.3% of GDP this year, which is 0.8 percentage points lower than in the October report.

In 2020 the current account deficit was 3.5%, up by 0.3 percentage points from the autumn report, while in 2022 it is projected to drop to 1.6%.

The unemployment rate for this year is forecast at 9.4%, down from 10.3% projected last autumn. In 2020, the rate was 9.2% and in 2022 it should slide to 9.0%.

In 2021, consumer prices are expected to increase by 0.7%, compared to 0.8% projected in October. In 2020, the inflation rate was 0.3% as forecast in October, while in 2022 consumer prices are expected to pick up to 1.2%.

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ZAGREB, 1 April, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices increased for the fifth consecutive trading day on Thursday, the last trading day before the Easter holidays, and they saw a strong increase on the week after two weeks of decline.

The Crobex indices went up by 0.23% on Thursday, the Crobex to 1,876 points and the Crobex10 to 1,179 points.

Week-on-week, the Crobex increased by 1.54% and the Crobex10 by 2.18%.

Today's regular turnover was HRK 4.3 million, or HRK 2.7 million less than on Wednesday.

The HT telecommunications company generated the highest turnover of HRK 1.26 million. The price of its shares went up by 0.26% to HRK 192.5 per share.

The Atlantic Grupa turned over HRK 1.25 million. The price of its shares closed at HRK 1,550 per share, up by 1.31%.

A total of 33 stocks traded today, with 13 of them recording share price increases, 11 registering share price decreases and 9 remaining stable in price.

Today was the last trading day this week because the ZSE is closed on Good Friday.

(€1 = HRK 7.563871)

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ZAGREB, 26 March, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices closed mixed on Friday, amid modest trading.

After falling for two days, the Crobex index rebounded slightly, rising by 0.09% to 1,848.06 points. The Crobex10, on the other hand, finished in the red for the third trading day, decreasing by 0.06% to 1,154.63 points.

Turnover at the close of the trading session was HRK 5.97 million, roughly the same as on Thursday.

The bulk of the turnover was generated by the stock of the Podravka food company, turning over HRK 3.4 million. The price of its share closed down 1.53% at HRK 516.

No other stock passed the turnover mark of one million kuna.

A total of 37 stocks traded today, with 14 of them recording share price increases, 10 registering price decreases and 10 remaining stable in price.

(€1 = HRK 7.570196)

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ZAGREB, 25 March, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices fell on Thursday for the second day in a row, with the Crobex dropping by 0.38% to 1,846.46 points and the Crobex10 by 0.57% to 1,155.33 points.

Turnover at the close of the trading session was HRK 5.88 million, about 2 million higher than on Wednesday. An additional HRK 2.5 million was generated by a block transaction with shares of the Atlantic retail group, at HRK 1,470 per share.

The only two stocks to pass the turnover mark of one million kuna were the HT telecommunications company and the Podravka food company, each turning over HRK 1.1 million. The price of the HT share decreased by 0.53% to HRK 188, while the Podravka share shrank in price by 1.87% to HRK 524.

The winner of the day was the Sunce Hoteli hotel company, which saw the price of its share jump by 6.02% to HRK 176 following the announcement that it was in the process of being taken over by the Eagle Hills Zagreb Real Estate company, owned by a businessman from the United Arab Emirates.

A total of 37 stocks traded today, with 13 of them recording share price increases and as many registering share price decreases, while 11 remained stable in price.

(€1 = HRK 7.570626)

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