July 12 (SeeNews) - Croatian Adriatic port operator Luka Ploce said it is facing severe problems following the shutdown of Bosnia's ailing Aluminij, considering that 50% of the port's 2018 revenues were related to the troubled aluminium smelter.
Mostar-based Aluminij shut down its operations at midnight on Tuesday to Wednesday after its power supply was cut off due to swelling unpaid bills.
"Termination of production in the Mostar factory [...] will have a significant impact on the business of Luka Ploce," the port operator said in a filing to the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) on Thursday.
It added it has been informed by Aluminij's management they are no longer able to meet their contractual obligations.
"The management board of the Luka Ploce undertakes maximum effort to deal with this new situation successfully and to stabilize our business operation," the port operator said.
Aluminij has been one of the most significant partners of the port of Ploce with 233,000 tonnes of goods processed at the port being directly and indirectly linked to Aluminij, Luka Ploce said.
In a separate statement to the ZSE, the port operator said it is calling a telephone meeting of its supervisory board on July 15 to discuss the situation arising from the closure of Aluminij, among other issues.
Luka Ploce said earlier its net profit jumped to 5.1 million kuna ($777,400/689,800 euro) in the first quarter of the year from 782,400 kuna in January-March 2018 as total revenue soared 76% to 45.1 million kuna, faster than the 61% rise in total costs to 40 million kuna.
Its turnover increased 22.65% year-on-year to 803,660 tonnes in the first quarter of 2019.
(1 euro = 7.39384 kuna)