May 19, 2021 - The Koncar group began its history 100 years ago in a workshop in Zagreb. Today, it is known as a regional leader in the power industry and in the production of rail vehicles. Apart from becoming one of the largest Croatian exporters and the bearer of innovations, quality standards, and technological progress, the Koncar group has also grown into a symbol of longevity and tradition.

As Jutarnji list reports, with an immeasurable contribution to Croatian industry, the Koncar Group has references in almost 130 countries, to date, they have produced and delivered more than 400,000 transformers of various types, voltage levels, and powers, partially or completely built and revitalised 375 hydropower plants, produced and revitalised 700 generators as well as manufactured and delivered nearly 200 low-floor trams and trains.

At the Koncar group, the tradition of knowledge, innovation, and commitment to the company is nurtured and developed from one generation to another. Generations have participated in the creation of one of the leading regional technology companies. Throughout its existence, Koncar has always been one of the leaders in development in its activity and the overall Croatian economy. Products and equipment made by this company are present on all continents, and the realised export in the hundred-year history of 6.4 billion USD is proof of its top quality, reliability, and constant technological progress.

In 2021, the Koncar Group celebrates its 100th anniversary, and the beginning of this celebratory year was marked by excellent business results and strong organic sales growth. Consolidated operating revenues for the first three months of 2021 amounted to an impressive 709.2 million kuna, which is 15 percent more than was recorded back during the same period in 2020. 

"Despite a difficult period, we were able to act quickly and adjust our business processes to the "new normal'' in order to maintain a positive business trend. That acts as proof of our expertise, quality, knowledge, and the courage we showed during the pandemic. We'll continue to work diligently, taking into account the well-being of all of our customers, employees, owners, and business partners,'' the President of the Management Board of Koncar, Gordan Kolak concluded.

One of the main assets of the Koncar Group, which is the development and production of rail vehicles, has greatly contributed to the aforementioned excellent results. Thus, Koncar confirmed its status of a Croatian synonym for rail vehicles with a contract with HŽ Putnički prijevoz (passenger transport), as it will deliver 12 electric trains for urban-suburban and regional traffic. This business area of ​​the Koncar Group is recognised on the international market, especially when it comes to electric trams. In November 2020, the Koncar Group delivered their first tram to the Latvian city Liepaja, and a total of twelve of them for that customer, more specifically Liepajas Tramvajs, will be delivered by April 2022.

With such cooperation, Croatian railway transport will certainly experience a significant step forward. The export of trams to Latvia has opened the doors of the European Union for this well respected Croatian company.

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ZAGREB, 25 January, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Monday received representatives of the Končar Electrical Industry Group, on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary, the President's Office said in a press release.

The President of Končar's Management Board, Gordan Kolak, presented the members of the new management board to President Milanović, as well as the current business operations and the existing business activities and development plans of the group, which consists of 14 companies.

Representatives of Končar said that the company's focus in the future would be on electrical energy and on increasing exports, which already make up nearly 60% of total revenues.

As one of Croatia's largest exporters, Končar is planning to export mostly to Germany, Sweden, Austria, Latvia, Hungary, North Macedonia and the UAE.

At today's meeting, it was said that professional and educated employees were important for Končar's development and successful competition.

The company currently has 3,500 employees.

As the biggest business successes in 2020, the company's representatives mentioned the production of transformers for substations for a buyer from the USA, the production of low-floor trams for a buyer from Latvia, the construction of the biggest solar power plant in Croatia on the island of Vis, and the continued production of electric trains for the HŽ Passenger Transport company, the press release said.

January the 25th, 2021 - The Croatian Koncar Group wasn't immune to the seemingly endless woes of 2020, but the large company still expects growth this year with the advent of the vaccine and the potential for some form of business and economic normalisation.

As Novac/Vedran Marjanovic writes, the Croatian Koncar Group has proven to be resilient to the ongoing coronavirus crisis and even expects revenue growth of ten percent this year, as was announced yesterday by the President of the Management Board of the Croatian Koncar Group, Gordan Kolak.

''The source of growth, first of all, we see in the beginning of the procurement of the HZ Passenger Transport (Putnicki prijevoz) trains, but we still see foreign markets, primarily Germany, Sweden and Austria, as primary in terms of the placement of our goods and services,'' stated the head of the Croatian Koncar Group, which consists of fourteen companies within the wider group and a joint venture with Siemens, as well as around 3,500 employees. Their annual revenue stands at an impressive three billion kuna, of which exports make up sixty percent.

When it comes to one of the company's most significant current export ventures, the sale of trams to the Latvian city of Liepaja, Gordan Kolak indicated that twelve of the contracted trams will be delivered to Latvia this year and next year.

Referring to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic on the Croatian Koncar Group's overall operations, Kolak stated that it is mostly reflected in the difficult access to new foreign markets, but, he also warned, it also lies in creating a new approach in markets where the Croatian Koncar Group is already present. The report on Koncar's operations throughout the pandemic-dominated year of 2020, announced Kolak, will not be presented before first being published on the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

''In any case, we had revenue growth last year, but at the moment I can't talk about the scale of that growth. The general situation on the global market is favourable for our company,'' he concluded.

This year, the Croatian Koncar Group is celebrating its 100th anniversary of doing business, and as one of the interesting things related to the jubilee, Kolak stated that Dragutin Pusic from Koncar, who designed the first logo of the company, will also celebrate his very own hundredth birthday.

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January the 8th, 2021 - The Croatian company Koncar is very well known here and indeed across the wider region for its high quality products and the general level of respect attached to its name. Koncar is now earning respect across the world for the products it boasts under its belt.

As Novac writes, today, the name Koncar is recognisable all over the world and has rightfully become synonymous with a high level of quality and reliability. Koncar's equipment and plants located more than 100 countries on all continents are proof of these properties and are permanent monuments of the Koncar Group's praiseworthy achievements. The estimated share of exports in total revenues throughout 2020 for Koncar stands at about 65 percent, of which two thirds relate to other European Union countries.

This is the best indicator of the competitiveness of the Koncar Group's wide range of products and solutions in the field of energy and transport. By country in 2020, Koncar achieved the most significant exports on the markets of Sweden, followed by Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland and the United Arab Emirates, and generators and energy, distribution, special and measuring transformers were mostly delivered to those countries.

In 2020, Koncar also signed a new two-year contract for the supply of transformers of 100 to 630 kVA, voltage 10.5 and 21 kV for a German energy company. Although the cooperation with that company was significant before, in order to sign yet another new contract, the company needed to improve its technical design in accordance with the appropriate EU regulation. The contract was preceded by a demanding pre-qualification procedure, and state-of-the-art technical and technological solutions were used to meet the requirements of all corresponding and stringent EU regulations.

In additon to Europe, Koncar completed some complex projects on other continents in 2020, too. In 2020, This well known company made yet another bold new step forward in its product range and delivered nine transformers to an American customer for 525 kV and 250 kVA substations. These are also the largest transformers that the company has produced so far and are among the largest in the world of this type, in terms of voltage level and power.

The buyer of those transformers is one of the strategically most important power companies on American soil, given that it supplies electricity to customers such as the Pentagon, which further emphasises the importance of Koncar's realised projects. In Africa, the third unit at the Kambouro hydroelectric power plant in Kenya was put into operation as part of the second phase of its revitalisation. This is the second phase of the revitalisation of HPP Kamburu, and Koncar completed the first back in 2014 by replacing the excitation, protection and control system of motor drives.

A low-floor electric tram was also added to the list of Koncar's export products in 2020. After the reliability and quality were confirmed in daily operations in the City of Zagreb, which operates 142 trams, in November 2020, Koncar delivered the first of twelve trams intended for public transport in the city of Liepaja in Latvia. This cooperation began back in November 2018, when a contract was signed for the delivery of six low-floor trams, with the possibility of delivering additional vehicles when the funds for such a move were secured.

At the end of August 2020, Liepajas Tramvajs provided the funds needed for six more such trams, and again entrusted the production and delivery work to Koncar. Koncar's solutions for important subsystems, such as the main electric motor drive, auxiliary power supply, microprocessor control and communications, boxes and turntables, are all installed in those trams.

In 2020, Koncar contracted even more work here at home on the domestic market, and one of the most important projects it was engaged in was the completion of the Vis solar power plant which was put into operation by HEP back in September. In addition to "green" products in the field of energy, Koncar continues to successfully do well in the field of transport in Croatia. In response to the growing demand for passenger transport by rail, which is the most economic and environmentally friendly form of transport, Koncar has developed and manufactured electric and diesel electric trains. There are currently 27 of them in HZ Passenger transport/Putnicki prijevoz's fleet, and according to the obligations from the contract concluded back in 2014 and the addendum to the contract concluded in April 2020, Koncar will deliver another twelve such electric trains.

In addition, a new contract was signed with the same buyer in November this year - for the purchase and sale of 21 electric trains, eleven for suburban and ten for regional traffic. The Koncar Group also sees great potential in renewable energy sources and additional reduction of harmful impact on the environment, but also a step forward in the digitalisation of existing products and services, and in the coming years it plans to intensify activities in these areas through all of its business processes. A step in that direction was seen with the recent signing of a contract with the Croatian Transmission System Operator (HOPS).

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November the 10th, 2020 - The coronavirus pandemic has put an enormous amount of business of all kinds on pause, or cancelled it all completely. It's difficult to read a positive business story of late, with the spread of the new virus and government measures making imports, exports and travel of all kinds more and more difficult. Koncar, however, has managed to succeed in the city of Liepaja.

Koncar is known throughout Croatia and the country's immediate region for its continued successful business operations in often difficult and unfavourable conditions, and not even the ongoing global pandemic has managed to throw a proverbial spanner in the works of the company's business moves.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Monday, the company Koncar - Elektricna vozila presented the first low-floor electric tram of the twelve that were contracted, which will operate on the streets of the Latvian city of Liepaja, with the value of two contracts for these trams amounting to around 18 million euros in total.

The tram is intended for public transport around the city of Liepaja which is located the Baltic coast, and this is the delivery of the first of a total of twelve contracted trams for a Latvian customer, with their production defined within the scope of two contracts.

The collaboration between Koncar and its Latvian client initially began back in November 2018 when a contract was signed for the delivery of six low-floor trams for the city of Lijepaja, while the second contract, which regarded six more trams, was concluded back in August this year. The purchase of these Koncar-built vehicles is co-financed from European Union (EU) funds in the generous amount of 85 percent.

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ZAGREB, November 9. 2020 - Croatia's Koncar Electric Vehicles company on Monday presented the first of the 12 low-floor trams for the city of Liepaja in Latvia, and the value of the two contracts for those trams is about €18 million.

Co-operation started in November 2018, when the first contract for the delivery of six low-floor trams was signed, while the second contract, for six more trams, was signed in August 2020. Eigthy-five percent of the procurement is financed by EU funds.

The President of the Managing Board of Koncar Electric Vehicles, Josip Ninic, said that in addition to Koncar Group companies other entrepreneurs from Croatia also participated in the project.

Despite the difficult epidemiological conditions, including suppliers, especially those outside Croatia, being late, the tram was finished on time, Ninic said.

"These contracts are the confirmation of our focus on export, as well as of our competitiveness and quality," he stressed.

The sixth tram, the last one from the first contract, will be delivered in May 2021, while the trams from the second contract will be delivered from October 2021 to April 2022.

Ivan Bahun, Deputy President of the Managing Board and President of the Supervisory Board, said that Koncar had earlier successfully produced and delivered 142 low-floor trams for the City of Zagreb, a project that had been entrusted to Koncar as the leader of the Crotram consortium following an international tender.

Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic said that 60 low-floor trams that had been promised to Zagreb citizens had not yet been done. He expects they could be produced in the next four years.

He said that he was proud that the tram would be sent to Latvia, which is the first time Koncar's tram was going outside Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of May, 2020, Croatian Railways (HZ) has ordered twelve new trains for suburban and intercity traffic from Končar's company - Electric Vehicles.

The move marks an investment worth a massive 465 million kuna and it is part of the investment cycle of Croatia's much needed railway modernisation, which is being realised with foreign loans and money from European Union funds, writes HRT.

This is one of about twenty electric trains that Croatian Railways (HZ Putnički prijevoz) ordered from Končar, and the new twelve brand new modern trains should be in service in a couple of years.

''The trains are low-floor trains adapted for easier entry for people with reduced mobility, the vehicles are equipped with a passenger information system, video surveillance, wireless internet access, passengers have space for bicycles and also for additional luggage,'' said Josip Ninić, President of Končar-Electric Vehicles.

The high-tech product was developed by Končar's experts with domestic subcontractors.

''Trains like this are very expensive, the lowest price is around 40 million kuna. Such trains boast numerous pieces of sophisticated equipment, software solutions and all of this was purpose-developed in Končar. The trains were made according to all of the necessarily global standards and we've already sold one to Bosnia and Herzegovina,'' emphasised Ivan Bahun, a member of the Management Board of Končar.

Končar is also hoping for new jobs for Croatian Railways, which has announced a tender for the procurement of 21 more trains that would be financed with European Union money. Croatian Railways would contract 37 new trains by the end of the year.

''These trains will run next year on the newly renovated sections of the railway to Zabok to Križevci and the section to Vinkovci. We'll raise the quality and the frequency of this type of transport, we'll reduce operating costs and change the perception of the railways,'' stated Željko Ukić, President of the Management Board of Croatian Railways.

In addition to trains produced for Croatian Railways, Končar worked diligently on the overhaul of foreign locomotives throughout the coronavirus epidemic, as well as on the first tram for a foreign customer.

The first of six contracted trams made for Latvia should start working in the autumn.

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ZAGREB, July 22, 2019 - The Končar Distribution and Special Transformers group generated a net profit of 18.7 million kuna in the first half of 2019, which is an increase of 4.1 million kuna or 28% compared with the same period in 2018, its financial statement shows.

Consolidated pre-tax profit was 23.7 million kuna, up by 21% from the first half of 2018 when it was 19.6 million kuna. Total consolidated revenue rose by 23% to 561.6 million kuna.

The management board described the group's business as stable, citing ongoing activities to improve organisation, rationalise business, promote development, cut costs, secure new deals and increase competitiveness.

More Končar news can be found in the Business section.

Good news for further development with the welcome help of European Union funds.

Austria’s Strabag wanted more money, so Končar took over the contract.