October 18 (SeeNews) - Croatian bakery chain Mlinar, controlled by UK-based private equity firm Mid Europa Partners, ranked as the best company in the sector in terms of profit, revenue, exports and number of employees in 2018, Croatia's financial agency, Fina, said.
Mlinar generated 656.8 million kuna ($98 million/88 million euro) in revenue last year, accounting for 14% of the overall revenue of Croatia's bread and baking goods sector in 2018, Fina said in a statement on Thursday.
The company reported a 72.3 million kuna in net profit last year, exporting goods worth almost 40 million kuna, the statement said.
It employed 1,906 people at the end of 2018.
For comparison, the second largest bakery chain last year, Pan-Pek, reported a total revenue of 258 million kuna, a 24 million kuna net profit and exports worth 18 million kuna. It employed 626 people in 2018.
In July, Mid Europa Partners completed the acquisition of Mlinar from its founder, Mato Skojo, who retained a minority stake in the business.
Fina said that an overall 929 bakeries were active in Croatia last year, reporting a total revenue of 4.6 billion kuna, up 4.3% compared to 2017. Of them, 645 companies reported profit, while the remaining 284 operated in loss.
The sector's consolidated profit rose 39% to 214.5 million kuna last year, while the value of combined exports increased 35% to 123 million kuna.
The top ten bakery firms generated 31% of the sector's combined revenue and 50% of the exports last year.
(1 euro = 7.44155 kuna)