Encouraging Announcements for Autumn: Moderate Optimism Returns to Business

First, there was a sigh of relief after the restrictive measures ended, and now, despite the economy still feeling the effects, moderate optimism prevails. Even that autumn, which many are anxiously awaiting, may not turn out to be so bad (although it is indeed difficult to predict everything).

It is clear to everyone that the economy has started to awaken, but some performed even better in June than in the same month last year, or their business in that month revived so much that they approached last year’s results.

We were somewhat surprised when we heard from the CEO of Spačva Josip Faletar that this June exceeded last year’s by as much as ten percent, and already in May, progress was felt, although still a quarter weaker than last year. However, lockdown left consequences, so the total export of that company was 66 million kuna in the first six months (last year 84 million kuna), and total revenues were 98 million kuna (last year 122 million kuna). In the wood processing industry, better results could be achieved, apart from Spačva, explains the co-owner of Sherif Group Murat Pašić, producers of semi-finished products, and reminds that ‘furniture makers’ along with the automotive industry always suffer first. This is also mentioned by Zdravko Jelčić, president of the Supervisory Board of Spin Valis, who says that their business results for the first six months are similar to last year’s, mainly thanks to sales in the first two months when they realized contracts with both old and new customers signed in 2019. They launched, he says, new products, which influenced the good results, which, however, declined during the lockdown.

– However, in June, the market revived again, so we largely regained what was lost in the previous three months. I cannot say that I am dissatisfied considering what has happened to us, but that is the case with all ‘furniture makers’ – says Jelčić.

Faletar says they postponed some investments, and the last week of July and the first two weeks of August they are on collective annual leave.

– What awaits us after that is very difficult to predict. If someone could tell me how the situation with the pandemic will develop, I might be able to assess something. As it is, we are proceeding cautiously, step by step, and depending on the situation, we will make decisions and adapt – says Faletar.

However, as we mentioned, autumn smiles at some. Vinko Matijević, the procurator of Plamen from Požega, says that for that company, which exports 90 percent of its products, orders fell to 22 percent in April because 60 percent of export revenue comes from doing business with Italians. Nevertheless, judging by the announcements, it seems that there is no winter for this company even this autumn, which entrepreneurs generally expect with fear. Namely, after the lockdown, in June, Plamen’s export was 14 percent higher than in the same month last year, and that is because the Italians pulled large backlogged quantities. However, that quantity did not compensate for last year’s orders. As things stand now, this is precisely why autumn smiles at him.

– We just received information today that in September and October they will order significant quantities of stoves to compensate for inactivity during the lockdown. By the end of the year, I expect that we will realize 90 percent of orders, and we have already prepared for it to be 70 percent. I can say that we are very satisfied considering that at one point during the lockdown we were really afraid of what this would lead to – says Matijević.

What they think and expect from the upcoming autumn in DIV Group, Saponija, Liburnia Maritime Agency, and other entrepreneurs can be read in the new issue of digital and printed edition of Lider.

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