ZAGREB, February 20, 2018 – The Kutina-based Petrokemija fertiliser producer ended 2017 with a loss of 146.8 million kuna, which is significantly more than in 2016 when it had a loss of 87.3 million kuna, the company’s unconsolidated financial statement shows.
The company underscored that half of its loss relates to an increase in the price of natural gas and “an extremely high cost of gas transport in Croatia.”
The company’s total revenue amounted to 1.99 billion kuna, up 3.3% from 2016, however, total expenditure increased as well, by 6.1% to 2.1 billion kuna.
A breakdown of revenue indicates that domestic sales account for 30.6% or 610.6 million kuna, up 5.1% on the year while exports accounted for 66.3% or 1.3 billion kuna of the total revenue, up 4.6% year-on-year.
The company also noted that 2017 was characterised by extensive preparations for the injection of fresh capital and efforts to maintain stability, continuity of production and of supplying buyers.
During 2017, production increased by 11.5% on the year to 1.2 million tonnes, 316,900 tonnes of which was sold on the domestic market (+10.1%) while exports grew by 6.6% to 850,200 tonnes. Imports of mineral fertiliser to Croatia decreased by 33% and sales on more price-attractive markets in the region increased by 16.4%. The company also introduced 7,000 tonnes of a new product called Petroblue.
The company’s shareholders decided in mid-January on Petrokemija’s recapitalisation in the expectation of raising 450 million kuna. Without fresh capital, the company will not hold out for another month, State Assets Minister Goran Marić said after a meeting at the company last week. He claimed that the process of recapitalisation was not finished, nor had it failed or been terminated, and expressed confidence that the process would succeed and that the recapitalisation model would be made known in the coming weeks.
