ZAGREB, November 2, 2018 – The first step of the new management board of the Uljanik Group is to ensure business continuity for the group, and it is also essential to ensure the continuation of cooperation with ship-owners whose support is vital for the shipyard’s business continuity, the new chairman of the three-member management board Emil Bulić said in Pula on Friday.
On Thursday, the group’s supervisory board appointed Bulić chairman and Bojan Blagonić and Milko Mihovilović the other two members of the Uljanik Group’s management board. They met with the supervisory board and with their predecessors on Friday morning.
“We have assumed the responsibility at a time when the company is in distress and our intention is to create preconditions for the business continuity of the whole group and all our employees as well as business continuity in shipbuilding,” Bulić said at a news conference. He thanked all the creditors who, he said, were also essential for Uljanik’s survival and had been essential for making sure that the company survived also in the period before embarking on an overhaul plan.
He said that management would start negotiations with the ship-owners whose support is seen by Bulić as essential as well. The new management is going to hold talks with all the relevant state institutions, too.
Asked about models for ensuring funds for unpaid salaries, Bulić said that “the new management is not in a position to make such decisions and they will have to refer this question to the institutions of the Republic of Croatia”. “We stepped into office a few hours ago, so we cannot yet comment on a solution to the issue of overdue salaries.”
For this issue to be solved, we must reach out to state institutions and we also must take care of Uljanik’s long-term interests so as to provide for the future of the company, he added, explaining that the survival of Uljanik is a condition for payment of salaries.
The first step is to hold talks with the Economy Ministry and outline our restructuring plan, which is viable. At that meeting we are going to request assistance in ensuring wages, he said. The overhaul plan is grounded exclusively on ship construction with all the necessary resources, “compensations are certain and necessary, and that is a part of the plan that needs to be hammered out with the government,” Bulić said.
Asked about the possible divestiture of the Rijeka-based 3. Maj dock from the Uljanik group, Bulić said the he could not agree with claims that “the divorce of Uljanik and 3. Maj is in the offing”. They are part of one group and they act as one company now, he said.
The Uljanik Supervisory Board chairman Samir Hadžić said at the news conference that they expected communication with the government to be better than it used to be.
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