ZAGREB, 5 April, 2021 - Gambling and betting businesses in 2019 generated HRK 4.1 billion in revenue, which is 114.6% more compared with 2010, when HRK 1.9 billion was generated, according to data from the Financial Agency (FINA).

In 2019, there were 70 gambling and betting businesses, their revenues totalled HRK 4.1 billion and their expenses HRK 3.2 billion.

The profit of those businesses amounted to HRK 799.1 million in 2019 and their losses to HRK 71.7 million, resulting in a net profit of HRK 727.4 million.

FINA's data show that over 10 years, gambling and betting businesses operated at a loss only in 2010, when their net loss was HRK 21.6 million. From 2011 to 2019 they posted a net profit.

The highest net profit, of HRK 727.4 million, was generated in 2019, which is ten times more compared with the lowest net profit in 2011 (HRK 72.9 million).

The highest total revenue in 2019 was generated by Super Sport (HRK 847.4 million) and Hrvatska Lutrija (HRK 636.8 million). The highest profit was posted by Super Sport (HRK 432.32 million) and Hattrick-PSK (HRK 156.62 million).

In the period from 2010 to 2019, 2017 saw the lowest number of gambling and betting businesses, 64, while 2010 saw the highest, 92.

The highest number of employees in that sector was registered in 2019 (6,749), and the lowest in 2015 (5,254).

The average monthly net salary in the gambling and betting sector was HRK 5,872 in 2019, and it was 48.2% higher compared with 2010, when it was HRK 3,963.

The most gambling and betting businesses were based in the City of Zagreb (36), followed by Primorje-Gorski Kotar (9) and Split-Dalmatia counties (8), while the fewest businesses in that sector were in Međimurje, Osijek-Baranja, Karlovac, Sisak-Moslavina, Zadar and Zagreb counties (1).

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ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - Croatian electricity generation, transmission and distribution operators saw their profits increase from HRK 215.5 million in 2008 to 2.2 billion in 2019, a report by the Financial Agency (FINA) shows.

The number of enterprises engaged in electricity generation, transmission and distribution rose from 89 in 2008 to 708 in 2019, while at the same time the number of their employees fell from 13,465 to 11,274. The decrease was mainly due to the fall in the number of employees at the state-owned HEP electricity distributor, from 9,271 in 2008 to 6,535 in 2019 (-29.5%).

FINA noted that many of the companies established during the reporting period had no or only a small number of employees. In 2019, out of a total of 708 companies, 458 were without any employees, while 159 had one or two.

The total revenue of companies engaged in electricity generation, transmission and distribution increased from HRK 21.1 billion in 2008 to HRK 29.6 billion in 2019. Expenditure also grew, from HRK 20.8 billion to 27 billion. Net profit rose from HRK 215.5 million in 2008 to HRK 2.2 billion in 2019, an increase of a staggering 938.4%.

The trade balance was negative throughout the reporting period. The largest trade deficit, of HRK 4.4 billion, was recorded in 2012 and the lowest, of HRK 1.6 billion, in 2014. In 2019, the trade deficit was HRK 4.1 billion, up 69.1% from the previous year.

The average net monthly salary in this sector increased from HRK 6,386 in 2008 to HRK 8,000 in 2019 (+25.3%).

FINA recalled that the restructuring of the Croatian electricity sector began in 2001, while formal liberalisation began in 2008. As of 1 July 2008, all consumers could choose their electricity provider.

During the 12-year period several competitors emerged on the electricity market, most of them after 2009.

The highest revenues and profits were generated by state-owned companies HEP (HRK 10.5 billion in revenue and HRK 1.1 billion in profit) and HEP-Proizvodnja (HRK 4.2 billion in revenue and HRK 457 million profit).

Among the privately owned companies, the highest revenues were generated by GEN-I Hrvatska (HRK 932.4 million) and E.ON Energija, previously called RWE Energija (HRK 917.5 million).

(€1 = HRK 7.5)  

ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - Nearly one in five Croatian businesses operated in the trade sector in 2019, or 28,814 out of 136,260 enterprises, data from the Financial Agency (Fina) shows.

Businesses engaging in expert, scientific, and technical activities accounted for 15.8%, construction companies for 11.9%, and those in the manufacturing industry for 10.9% of the total number of enterprises.

Fina said that an analysis of financial reports showed that businesses in the trade sector had predominated in the last 20 years.

The 136,260 enterprises employed 969,776 people, which is 6.4% more than in 2018. Most of them were employed in manufacturing and trade, namely 240,081 (24.8%) in manufacturing and 195,927 (20.2%) in trade.

In nominal terms, the number of workers increased the most in trade (by 20,521), construction (by 9,867), manufacturing (by 6,351), hospitality (by 6,250), and information and communications (by 3,701).

The largest revenues and expenditures were generated by trading companies (HRK 275.6 billion in revenues and HRK 266.1 billion in expenditures).

Manufacturing businesses generated HRK 185.5 billion in revenues and HRK 176.6 billion in revenues, and construction businesses posted HRK 59.98 billion in revenues and HRK 58.22 billion in expenditures.

By net profit, businesses in the trade sector performed the best, earning HRK 7.4 billion, down by 4.1% compared with 2018. Manufacturing businesses reported HRK 7.2 billion in net profits and businesses engaging in expert, scientific and technical activities posted HRK 3.9 billion.

(€1 = HRK 7.516985)

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 13th of November, 2019, the Financial Agency (Fina) has opened its fourth IT development centre in which IT solutions will be created, from analysis, design, programming and then the testing of the solutions themselves as software products.

Fina's IT development centres (ITRC) have already been opened in Split, Zabok and Osijek, one in Čakovec has been announced, and their common characteristic is to open and operate where higher education institutions (faculties or colleges) that educate IT profiles are located.

According to the agency, Virovitica is also a well-rounded organisational unit that deals with the creation and support of IT services for targeted users. Fina has already employed five workers in the new premises and plans to continue hiring experienced IT professionals.

These people will be Fina scholarship holders from the Virovitica College of Management in Tourism and Informatics (VŠMTI), and on top of that, Fina is also opening up opportunities for students who will be able to find employment in the Development Centre through student services. That move is also helping to stop Croatia's worrying brain drain.

"The financial agency is first and foremost a technology company with a very strong IT development team which boasts 280 employees. Fina is one of the four carriers of the state's digitisation, we're building our future in these jobs and we need IT staff very much. We're working with the College of Management in Tourism and Informatics in Virovitica, to show students who are being educated here that they have a place to come and work, that their future workplace is waiting for them, and that they can do their internships here, write their graduate thesis and participate in all of the projects that Fina is engaged in,'' said Fina's Dražen Čović.

"The ultimate goal of all this is the development of modern IT products that meet the needs of the local community and provide employment to the local population, which also makes it a socially responsible business. In Virovitica, we're probably the largest IT company where more or less all of the students come, and the plan is to have about 20 people here,'' added Čović.

Therefore, wherever Fina opens up more ITRCs, local students know where that they can come and knock on the door, especially given the fact that in addition to giving them the opportunity, Fina is also a socially sensitive company, according to Čović.

"We have a collective agreement and we're a company with a high level of labour rights, we invest in people through education and training is a big thing to us. Stable wages, the payment of overtime, the payment of work done on projects, we provide stimulation for further effort, but everything depends on the person.

What's important, and the reason why we started talking to students is: We say what we're doing in terms of development transparently and openly, what jobs we're doing and what technologies we're using. If students recognise the value of that, they will contact us because they have a clear path: from personal development within the company, work and relationships with mentors, and knowledge of exactly what the project is all about,'' concluded Čović.

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