Operating profit of the indebted food and retail group Agrokor in May 2018 is nearly 10 percent larger than planned, and the Konzum supermarket chain had 20 percent more traffic on the year, said the 14th monthly report published by the Agrokor crisis management on Tuesday.

The report, covering the time period from May 11 to June 10 2018, follows economic and financial development of the Agrokor group, and reports on the realisation of the crisis management’s activities, as well as the business of Agrokor d. d. and larger companies within the group.

The privately-owned company had been taken over by state administration in April 2017, tasked with overseeing its orderly restructuring to ensure its survival. Agrokor is one of the largest companies in the country, employing 60,000 workers across the region before its crisis started in early 2017.

A debt-for-equity settlement with company’s creditors is seen as a key step in the administration process, and the legally mandated deadline to agree on the plan is July 10.

The most important indicator of business activity in Agrokor in the first four months of 2018 is the growth in operating profit by 24.1 million kuna (€3.26 million) above planned. The EBITDA of the Agrokor Group in the first four months was 274.6 million kuna (€37.2 million), or 9.6 percent above planned, the report said.

The best results were achieved by the retail and food groups.

The Konzum market chain posted especially positive business activity indicators for May 2018. Compared to the comparable retail network in 2017, the chain had 6.5 percent more customers in May 2018, and the increase in customers, along with the increase in average individual spending by some 11 percent, resulted in a rise in traffic of almost 20 percent compared to May last year. The increase is almost 8 percent above planned, and the mark up increased almost 7 percent above planned.

The food group posted some 2.1 billion kuna (€284.7 million) in profit in the first four months of 2018, as well as 234.1 million kuna (€31.7 million) in operating profit.

The business activity of the agriculture group is still strongly influenced by the record low pork prices, compensated by other activities. The group posted a 642 million kuna (€87 million) profit in the first four months of 2018, less than the planned 667 million kuna (€90.4 million), while the profit in the covered time period was 53.8 million kuna (€7.3 million), said the crisis management’s report.

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