12 Croatian companies on the CE Top 500 list

Contact: Sonja Ludvig
Deloitte Croatia
Corporate communications senior coordinator
+385 (1) 23 51 900

The annual list of 500 largest companies from 17 Central European countries, compiled by Deloitte’s experts, includes 12 Croatian Companies, with INA Group as a national leader. Among Croatian banks, the national leader on the list of 100 strongest CE banks is Zagrebačka banka, while on the list of Top 50 insurers best position among Croatian insurance companies holds Croatia osiguranje.

Deloitte’s list confirmes the regional dominance by the energy and resources sector. Among the most influential factors for the dominance of this sector are, of course, high oil prices on the global market, but also stalled privatisation of remaining state-owned assets, which is being underpinned by an increased regard for ‘economic patriotism’ across the region. On the first place remains Polish oil company PKN Orlen, followed by Hungarian MOL and Czech Škoda, which is the best ranked among manufacturing companies. Apart from energy sector, the best represented sectors on the Top 500 list are manufacturing, retail and transport, which make for total of 75 percent of companies on the list. TMT, LSI and Real Estate sectors follow, with only one quarter of companies from these sectors.

Croatia seems to follow the trend of dominance by energy companies in the region. Best ranked Croatian company is INAGroup, which in 2007 has had over 3,5 billion euro revenue, which is a 10 percent growth in comparation to the last year’s results. INA Group holds undisputable first place among Croatian companies for years, and on this year’s Top 500 list holds 17th place. On the list, INA Group is followed by Agrokor (32nd) and Konzum (103rd). It is important to stress out that last year Agrokor had 37 percent revenue increase. Among Croatian companies on the list are: HEP group (113), Hrvatski telekom (129), Pliva (260), T-mobile (318), Hrvatske željeznice (360), VIPnet (391), HEP proizvodnja (418), Podravka gupa (422) te Zagrebački Holding (470).

Apart from the general Top 500 list, Deloitte's experts provided the special Top 50 banks and Top 50 insurers in Central Europe lists. Even the brief glimpse on the numbers for the biggest banks in CE region for 2007 shows another record year. All Top 25 banks in the region increased their total revenues. On the Top 50 CE banks are listed following Croatian banks: Zagrebačka banka (14), Privredna banka Zagreb (23), Erste (38) and Raiffeisen bank (41). On Top 50 insurance companies Croatia has three largest insurance companies: Croatia Osiguranje (13), Allianz (42) and Euroherc (44).

In the closer region, Slovenia is represented by 18 companies. The best ranked Slovenian company is retailer Mercator, followed by Petrol and Gorenje. Among 11 Serbian companies, NIS is ranked highest, followed by Elektroprivreda and Delta. Situation for companies from Bosnia-Herzegovina is the same as in last year, since none of the companies entered the list.

According to Deloitte’s experts, Central European economy will maintain its impressive 5 percent growth in the near future, but only if the current reforms are to be maintained at the same pace. Based on the conversations with the CEOs from the leading CE companies, it can be concluded that the region will continue to attract foreign investors, but will have to reform its educational system as well.

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