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HT and Ericsson Nikola Tesla Shares are the Only Millionaires

As the season for financial report announcements of domestic companies is in full swing, investors on the Zagreb Stock Exchange are struggling to find reasons for significant investments, with only two shares achieving million kuna turnover.

The Crobex index was down 0.52 percent at 12:00, at 2,166 points. The Crobex10 weakened by 0.35 percent, to 1,168 points. Regular trading volume exceeded 15 million kuna, which is about 6 million higher than yesterday at this time. "In the domestic market, we see increasingly weaker trading volumes, after the money from recent sales of HT shares, following the expiration of the right to participate in dividends, was absorbed into other blue-chip issues. There is no more room for liquidity growth, as investors find it difficult to identify reasons that would prompt them to invest larger amounts of money in shares," says Dalibor Balgač, an analyst at the Economic Research Department of Hypo Alpe Adria Bank.

Only two shares achieved million kuna turnover by noon – HT and Ericsson Nikola Tesla shares. The HT share achieved a turnover of 9.5 million kuna. Its price fell by 1.15 percent, to 273 kuna. This morning, HT announced that its revenues fell by 6 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, to 1.94 billion kuna, while net profit fell by 34.2 percent, to 384 million. "The decline in HT’s revenues in the first quarter was below analysts’ expectations. However, the significant drop in net profit is striking. A considerable impact on this was also the domestic money market, where interest rates are extremely low, which is why HT, which has a large cash position, is recording a significant decline in net financial income," notes Balgač. The season for financial report announcements is in full swing today, and reports are continuously flowing onto the stock exchange’s website.

"According to the financial reports of domestic companies published so far for the first quarter of this year, a continuation of negative trends in their operations is noticeable, especially in the construction sector. Although the crisis was sharp last year, the financial reports of construction companies were still solid. However, their reports for the first quarter of this year show a significant impact of the crisis, and I expect the same for the second quarter. Only in the second half of the year could we see stagnation in the construction sector, possibly even a slight recovery," assesses Balgač. On the other hand, Balgač adds, a gradual recovery of companies that are more export-oriented, such as Ericsson Nikola Tesla, is noticeable, primarily due to the recovery of their export markets. This share achieved a turnover of 1.5 million kuna by noon, and its price is slightly down, at 1,692 kuna.

Close to a million kuna turnover, at 912,000 kuna, is the preferred share of Adrisa. Its price weakened by 1.33 percent, to 302 kuna. Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Statistics announced that retail trade turnover in March was nominally 2.2 percent, and real 2.9 percent lower than in the same month last year. This is a smaller decline than expected, as six macroeconomists surveyed by Hina estimated, on average, that the decline in retail trade turnover in March was 5.8 percent. "The smaller decline in consumption than expected is a pleasant surprise, partly due to Easter falling at the beginning of April, so part of the holiday shopping was done at the end of March," says Hrvoje Stojić, head of the Economic Research Department of Hypo Alpe Adria Bank. (H)