The executive director of Luka Bar, Zarija Franović, could soon be replaced, and Vladan Vučelić, a high-ranking DPS official and longtime director of Podgorica's "Vodovod", is being mentioned as his possible successor, "Vijesti" has learned.
At yesterday's shareholders' meeting of the majority-owned company, the Board of Directors received the support of the Government. Former members Anđelko Lojpur, Borislav Lalević, Branislav Branković, Sead Delalić and Aleksandar Jovović received a new mandate in the board on behalf of the state, as representatives of minority shareholders.
At the regular meeting of shareholders, the report on last year's operations of Luka was adopted, as well as the Board's critical review of the work of the company's management, which has been headed by Franović since August 2017.
The sources of "Vijesti" claim that the Board of the Port has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the previous management led by Franović, so now the "door is wide open" for his changes. Unfulfilled legal obligations towards workers were recognized as a problem, as well as the fact that the balance in the books is far from the real one, since settlements were made even during the audit of the annual reports on business.
The key test for the fate of Franović's management will probably be the semi-annual report on Luka's operations, which will be presented by the end of August, and for which the executive director has already been reported to the Capital Market Commission by the minority shareholders due to suspicions of possible stock market manipulation.
"Vijesti" sources claim that the audit committee in the company was tasked with examining the publicly announced result of the bar company's half-yearly profit of 600.000 euros, which was announced by Franović despite the significant increase in costs during the first six months.
The assembly adopted the report on last year's operations, according to which the company's net profit of 941.913 euros was about 30 percent less than the previous year. In the final calculation for 2017, income based on the use of the coast in the amount of 756.402 euros was missing, and a direct write-off of receivables on the account of the current period in the amount of 672.930 euros was carried out. This means that by applying the same accounting policy as the year before, the total profit for 2017 would amount to 2,37 million euros or 77,5 percent more compared to 2016, which would be more than fictitious and far from the real situation.
Lojpur told "Vijesta" that the situation was "quite chaotic, to put it mildly, although it was not clearly visible from the outside".
"Luka Bar slept a "winter sleep" for ten whole years. Thus, the amount of unpaid claims came close to the total realized annual income, with the fact that some of them date back to 2007. Some claims were not settled on time, some became uncollectible over time because the debtor companies went bankrupt. The port continuously lost disputes with employees to whom we owed almost three million due to non-compliance with the collective agreement. With more than 80 percent of the transshipment volume, only three business partners participated, which is very unfavorable... The existing organizational model is completely outdated and inappropriate, and finally the question of concluding a concession contract is open, where we had to start from the beginning in cooperation with the relevant ministry and Dr.," said Lojpur.
Compared to the previous period, the company's assembly also made a discontinuity with the previous audit services, as this service will be performed by BDO this year. The item that was not adopted by the Shareholders' Assembly yesterday was the proposed changes to the Statute. This did not happen, allegedly, due to "cosmetic changes" that need to be completed in the coming period.
Franović: I couldn't do more without analysis
When asked if he expects changes in management because the Shareholders' Assembly gave a new mandate to the Board with which he is "not on the same wavelength", Franović replied to "Vijesta" that the shareholders unanimously adopted the business report with the financial statement for 2017. I was only there since August 1, but in those five months much more was done than in the previous period. Maybe someone immediately expected me to do more, but it was impossible without analyzes and reports on the basis of which decisions are made with the aim of better and higher quality work. We are the ones who have to chase the work, and we will not be chased by the work. The unanimous adoption of the report is in some way contrary to the report of the Board of Directors. The statute was not adopted, because I knew it was not in accordance with the Law on Business Companies. The collection rate increased from 40 to 76 percent, and an agreement was signed with 243 workers according to which 1,1 million euros net, or 1,9 million gross, were paid today, which means that the state earned about 800.000 euros. All of this was paid out of current liquidity, without a single cent of debt. This is a big problem inherited from the period 2009-2016," said Franović.
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