November 30 (SeeNews) - Croatia's largest privately-owned business group Fortenova said on Wednesday that it closed the first nine months of the year with a profit from continuing operations of 534 million kuna ($73 million/71 million euro), after a loss of 384 million kuna in the same period of 2021.
The improvement of 918 million kuna came despite high cost of debt and increased costs of energy and labour, Fortenova, the successor to the collapsed food-to-retail concern Agrokor, said in a detailed presentation of unaudited consolidated operating results for the nine months through September 2022.
“The factors with the greatest positive impact on the growth of all of the group’s performance indicators were the excellent tourist season, significant operational improvements, as well as inflation,” Fortenova explained.
Last week, Fortenova Group reported total consolidated revenues from continuing operations of 30.3 billion kuna, an annual increase of 38%, as its consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the period rose 22% year-on-year to 2.1 billion kuna.
According to the presentation, the group'a core segments comprising a total of 18 companies achieved 12% higher net sales revenue (NSR), 11% higher EBITDA and 21% higher EBIT compared to the first nine months of last year.
The retail and wholesale segment reported 9% higher NSR driven by revenue initiatives like price optimization, network expansion, acquisition of retail chain Miracolo, and high inflation, while focus on store optimization initiatives, synergies and energy saving measures resulted in 9% higher EBITDA and 21% higher EBIT versus the year-ago period.
The food segment posted 24% higher NSR, 2% higher EBITDA and 1% higher EBIT due to higher prices offset by increased prices of raw materials, input costs inflation and increased salaries.
Agriculture companies posted 7% higher NSR with pig farming, cattle farming and dairy production contributing the most, which offset the negative effect on net revenues from exiting trading business.
Nine-month EBITDA increased by 60% and EBIT rose by 103% following the rise in market-driven sales prices, improved natural performance indicators and strong operational cost management, Fortenova said.
(1 euro = 7.548 Croatian kuna)