March 28 (SeeNews) - Slovenian food company Zito, a subsidiary of Croatian food, beverages and pharmaceuticals producer Podravka [ZSE:PODR], plans to invest more than 10 million euro ($11 million) in improving the efficiency of its production processes, Zito CEO Karmen Pangos said.
The investment in modernisation aims to achieve higher degree of automation and consequently higher profitability, Pangos said in a video file posted on the website of public broadcaster RTV on Sunday.
The company plans to close its production facilities in Novo Mesto and in Ljubljana's Bezigrad district, in order to mitigate the adverse effect of the rise in wheat prices caused by the war in Ukraine, RTV reported.
"We will offer new jobs to some employees, we will reassign them to new plants. We will definitely make this possible for all those who want early retirement," Pangos noted.
Zito plans to continue producing bread, pastries and other bakery products in Vrhnika, Maribor and Ljubljana's Vic district, RTV said.
Podravka completed the acquisition of Zito in 2016. Zito was established as a branch office by Podravka in 1974 and was transformed into a trading company in 1991.
($ = 0.910489 euro)