Croatia's businesses earned a consolidated net profit of 21 billion (€2.8bn) in 2020, which is 33 percent down from the year before, state agency Hina reported on Tuesday citing figures from the state's financial agency Fina.

In 2020, a total of 139,009 businesses that are subject to profit taxation – excluding financial institutions – posted revenues of of 46 billion kuna (€6.1bn). By comparison, in 2019, some 136,260 businesses had revenues of 49 billion kuna (€6.5bn) with a net profit of 31.3 billion kuna (€4.1bn).

By sector, wholesale and retail was the most profitable with 7.5 billion kuna (€1bn), followed by manufacturing which earned 7.2 billion kuna (€960m) and businesses in the so-called “professional, scientific and technical activities,” which earned 3.4 billion kuna (€452m) in profits.

The most successful wholesale and retail business was the Croatian subsidiary of the German discount retail giant Lidl, which posted a net profit of 274.8 million (€36m). Lidl employs 2,377 people in Croatia, with an average net salary of 9,276 kuna (€1,233). It was followed by the Atlantic Trade food and packaged consumer goods company, which had a profit of 208.1 million kuna (€28m). Third-ranked was Pevex, a do-it-yourself retail chain, with a net profit of 199.4 million kuna (€26m) and 1,894 employees, who were paid an average salary of 5,761 kuna (€766).

In manufacturing, the largest profit was the Pliva pharmaceutical company, with a profit of 832.6 million kuna (€111m). The company, owned by generic drug giant Teva from Israel, employs 2,293 people in Croatia, and their average net salary was 12,478 (€1,660). Pliva was followed by Pfizer’s subsidiary Hospira, with 366.7 million kuna (€49m) in profit, 356 workers and an average salary of 15,333 kuna (€2,040) and the HS Produkt which makes firearms, which had a profit of 270.9 million kuna (€36m), and 1,412 employees with an average net salary of 6,390 kuna (€849).

Croatian businesses employed a total of 947,798 workers in 2020, which is 0.3 percent or 2,401 down from 2019. The highest increase in jobs was reported in the construction sector (by 6,345), in retail (by 4,462) and in IT industry (by 2,162).

The highest average net salary was reported in IT industry, at 8,706 kuna (€1,158) or 4.3 percent up from 2019, and 45.8 percent higher than the national average across all types of businesses, which is 5,971 kuna (€794).

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)