More than 45 percent of entrepreneurs operate at a loss

Croatian entrepreneurs achieved a gross profit, or surplus of income over expenses, amounting to 25.1 billion kuna in the first nine months of this year.

This is a decrease of 5.6 percent compared to the same period last year, and the reduction in gross profit is a result of faster growth in expenses compared to income, the Financial Agency (Fina) announced today based on data from quarterly statistical reports of Croatian entrepreneurs.
Data was collected from the statistical reports of 92,492 entrepreneurs for the first nine months of this year, and given that their total income was higher than total expenses, Fina assesses that Croatian entrepreneurs operated relatively successfully during this period.

Namely, Croatian entrepreneurs generated a total of 458.9 billion kuna in revenue over the nine months, while expenses amounted to 433.8 billion kuna. Total revenues increased by 0.7 percent compared to the same period last year, while expenses grew at a rate of 1.1 percent.

The higher growth of expenses compared to revenues, Fina emphasizes, reduced the efficiency of operations, given that with an expenditure of 100 kuna in total expenses in the first nine months of this year, 105.79 kuna in revenue was generated, while in the same period in 2011, 106.20 kuna was generated. This worsened efficiency caused a decrease in the total gross profit of Croatian entrepreneurs in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year by 5.6 percent.

According to Fina’s data, more than half of the total number of entrepreneurs, or 50,791 or 54.9 percent, operated with gross profit in the first nine months of this year, while 41,701 or 45.1 percent had a gross loss. These data, Fina states, show that compared to the same period last year, the ratio of entrepreneurs who were successful and those who were not remained the same.

From the statistical reports for the first nine months of this year, it is also evident that the number of employees among Croatian entrepreneurs increased by 1.5 percent compared to the same period in 2011 (based on the number of employees according to hours worked), while average monthly net salaries simultaneously decreased by one kuna.

Employees of entrepreneurs, who are subject to profit tax, had an average net salary calculated at 4,703 kuna, which is nominally at the same level as last year, but due to rising consumer prices, it is realistically lower by 3.0 percent, Fina states. Additionally, Fina’s data shows that in the first nine months, Croatian entrepreneurs invested 27.2 billion kuna in new fixed assets, which is 2.4 percent more than last year.