Liberalization of postal services began in the European Union in 1991, and Croatia followed the practices of those countries starting in 2003. For these services, the next important year was 2008, when the postal market was formally liberalized (the so-called Second Postal Directive), and since 2013, the Third Postal Directive has also been applied. As a result, more and more service providers are emerging in the market. An analysis over the past 14 years showed that there were the most providers last year, 48 with 9,677 employees, while in 2003 there were 29 with 11,836 employees. The change in the number of employees at HP – Hrvatska pošta significantly affects the number of employees at the group level, and this number at HP has been decreasing year by year, peaking in 2007 (11,410) and reaching its lowest in 2015 (8,882), while in 2016 it increased by 285 workers compared to the previous year (9,167). The highest total revenues and expenses were recorded in 2013, when both revenues and expenses amounted to 2.2 billion kuna.
The highest profit in 2016
Entrepreneurs in the observed sector operated positively (net profit) in 2003 and 2016, with the highest profit recorded in 2016, while the largest loss was reported in 2008. The results of entrepreneurs in this group of activities are most influenced by the market leader in these services, HP, with a reported profit of 99.5 million kuna in 2016, while during the observed period, the largest loss was incurred in 2008, amounting to 243.7 million kuna, resulting in a group-level loss of 235.3 million kuna. The results in 2013 were most influenced by City Ex, which recorded a loss of 25.8 million kuna, while at the group level, this was a net loss of 26.9 million kuna. The highest average monthly net salary for employees of entrepreneurs providing postal and courier services was calculated in 2008 and amounted to 6,569 kuna, while in 2016 it was 5,518 kuna, which is 7.3 percent higher than the average net salary in Croatia. Employees at HP in 2016 had an average monthly net salary of 5,481 kuna, while employees at DHL International d.o.o., numbering 160, had an average of 9,018 kuna.
The downfall of City Ex
