In Croatia, only the Minister of Finance manages a larger amount than Damir Spudić (40), a member of the Management Board and CFO of the Energia naturalis group, which consists of more than twenty companies from various business sectors, from energy to food. The largest among them is PPD, which more than doubled its revenue last year on the wings of drastic gas price increases compared to the previous year.
Spudić joined PPD about ten years ago. Before that, he spent the first five years of his career at Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, where PPD was a client and where he met its owner Pavle Vujnovac, whom he now perceives less as an employer and more as a friend and partner.
It could be assumed that the rise in gas prices would also result in a jump in PPD’s revenues, but the result you published for last year is indeed fascinating. Did you also increase the volume of sales?
– PPD’s revenue, the most well-known company of the ENNA group, was 21 billion kuna, and the volume of gas sold was almost identical to the previous year, with a similar level of profitability. This is primarily a consequence of the extreme rise in energy prices on the international market; at the beginning of 2021, the price was 17 euros per megawatt-hour, and by the end of the year, it was above one hundred euros. Since PPD’s business is mainly, about 80 percent, concentrated on foreign markets, the increase in prices on the international market significantly affected revenue growth.
What was the relationship between revenue and expenses?
– The gross profit was around 260 million kuna, while the previous year it was around 230 million. Despite the extreme increase in revenue, the business remained at a similar level of profitability.
It is known that PPD has a ten-year contract with Gazprom since 2017. Wasn’t a fixed gas price defined in that contract?
– No, we have no exclusivity or preferential prices. We do not have a fixed price agreed with Gazprom; it is market-based, tied to the stock index. We do not consume gas; we sell it. Buying it at a fixed price would be a big risk for us, because if the price falls, we automatically lose. If it goes up, okay, we earn. But who is willing to speculate like that? Moreover, the procurement of gas from Gazprom accounts for just under twenty percent of our total gas procurement.
Due to a matured debt of 95 million kuna, you recently blocked the account of the Zagreb gas company.
– We negotiated with GPZO for a full five months and were constructive the whole time, even though we struggled with GPZO’s debts all winter. During that time, we did not want to destabilize GPZO but offered constructive solutions that would ease the position of both companies. Unfortunately, GPZO did not accept this. We issued a promissory note due to repeated inappropriate behavior. In everything that is happening, we have not jeopardized the gas supply to households at any moment.
