Croatian businesses generated a total consolidated net profit of 21.9 billion kuna (€2.97 billion) in 2017, or 9.5 percent less than in 2016, the Financial Agency (Fina) said on Friday.

The report covered some 120,000 Croatian companies liable to profit tax, excluding banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. Most companies which are part of the indebted Agrokor food and retail group were also not included as only seven out of the 34 companies comprising the group had submitted their annual financial statements for 2017 to Fina.

The businesses included had a total of more than 880,000 employees, an increase of 5.8 percent over 2016. They earned 678.4 billion kuna (€91.9 billion)in total revenues, up 9.5 percent from the previous year, while at the same time their expenditures rose by 10.4 percent to 649.8 billion kuna (€88 billion).

The total profit they earned in 2017 was 41.4 billion (€5.6 billion), up 8.7 percent from 2016, while the total loss increased by as much as 40.6 percent to 19.5 billion kuna (€2.6 billion). “The increased losses led to a lower consolidated net profit, which fell by 9.5 percent compared to 2016,” Fina said.

By comparison, their consolidated net profit in 2016 was 24.2 billion kuna (€3.3 billion).

Nearly 81,000 enterprises, or over two thirds (67.4 percent) posted a profit, while more than 39,000, or 32.6 percent, reported a loss. The highest profit, of 1.4 billion kuna (€189.7 million), was reported by the INA oil company.

Of the total 678.4 billion kuna in revenues, some 137.8 billion kuna was generated from sales on foreign markets, an increase of 16.6 percent over 2016. More than 18,000 companies (15.4 percent) reported sales of their products and services in foreign markets, with goods worth 117.8 billion kuna purchased, and the trade surplus amounting to 20 billion kuna.

(€1 = 7.38 kuna)

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