Adris Group: Beware, energy companies, the guys from Rovinj are coming to your field!

Since the ‘balanced portfolio of sustainable businesses’ is the mantra at the core of Adris’s growth and development strategy, and considering the frequency with which Adris Group introduced new activities into its operations between 2000 and 2015, it has been a long wait for the Rovinj-based company to enter something entirely new again. Eight and a half years after Adris divested from the tobacco business, the company, organized into three main strategic business units (tourism, food industry, and insurance), announced that its fourth strategic direction is becoming – energy.

Two months ago, Adris Group signed a contract with the ENCRO group for a joint investment in renewable energy sources. Each will hold fifty percent shares in four project companies developing six electricity production projects: one wind farm and five solar power plants, with a total connection capacity of 122.3 MW, or 141.8 MW of installed capacity. The first production from the solar power plants is expected by the end of 2024, and from the wind farm in early 2025.

– In addition to further diversifying Adris’s investments, this project has ensured our self-sufficiency and long-term satisfaction of our energy needs almost entirely. We will produce energy from sustainable sources sufficient to supply the entire system. In an era of pronounced geopolitical instability and consequently uncertainty in supply and energy prices, Adris Group is increasing its resilience to external shocks and strengthening the sustainability of the business system as a whole. The issue of regular energy supply at stable and predictable prices is today not only a matter of business profitability but also a strategic issue for the Group. No less important, in the context of global trends related to ESG, this investment positions Adris among the leaders of the green transition in the region, explained Marko Remenar, the sole member of the Management Board of Adris Group.

The strategy of investing earned money in several completely different activities and channels has, as far as is known, only failed once, when Adris Group lent one billion kuna to Agrokor. Due to this debt, the settlement of Agrokor’s creditors was almost jeopardized, as Adris, being Agrokor’s largest non-financial creditor, did not agree to the terms of the settlement and initiated legal proceedings to protect its claim. The outcome of the case was that Adris converted its claims (the percentage is unknown) into ownership stakes in Fortenova Group TopCo, the parent company of Fortenova, and found itself on the list of the ten largest shareholders.

However, diversification proved to be an excellent strategy in its full strength in 2020, when tourism fell to its knees due to the coronavirus crisis, and all tourism companies, including Maistra, ended the year in a significant deficit. Although Maistra recorded nearly 15 million euros in losses that year, Adris Group ended the year in the black, albeit less than it had been accustomed to for years, but still in the black.

Adris Group had a consolidated revenue of over 860 million euros in 2022 (14 percent more than the previous year), making it the fifth largest among Croatian companies. The net profit achieved last year amounted to around 73 million euros, or 37 percent more than in 2021. According to financial indicators for the first nine months of 2023, this year will end even more successfully. By the end of September, Adris had achieved total revenue of 815 million euros and a net profit of 103 million.

Once again, diversification into different businesses has proven to be a winning combination. This year, in fact, the tourism segment leads in revenue and profit growth, having increased revenue by 18 percent in the first nine months compared to the same period last year, and net profit by 22 percent. On the other hand, damages from summer storms in the Zagreb area and eastern Croatia significantly affected the profit of Croatia osiguranje in the third quarter, so the nine-month profit of the insurer is 27 percent lower than in the first nine months of last year, despite an 11 percent increase in insurance sales revenue.

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