An analysis of data available on the Capital Market Commission website for the period from 2021 to the end of 2024 shows that the state-owned maritime company Crnogorska plovidba was more successful in business than another state-owned maritime company, Barska plovidba, in which the state shares ownership with private shareholders.
"Vijesti" had insight into this analysis, which was conducted at the initiative of professional maritime associations from Kotor.
The analysis used data from the Capital Market Commission website for Crnogorska plovidba from 2021 to 2024 (all annual and periodic business reports), and for Barska plovidba, two annual reports are available, for 2021 and 2022, while for 2023 and 2024, periodic reports for the first quarters (January-March) are available.
Data shows that in 2021, Crnogorska plovidba generated 7.355.029 euros in revenue, which is 1.573.561 or 27 percent more revenue than Barska plovidba had that year. Crnogorska plovidba's total expenses that year amounted to 7.275.335 euros and were 2.474.907 euros less than Barska plovidba's expenses. Unlike the Bar-based company, which ended the business year 2021 with a loss of 3.968.774 euros, the Kotor-based company had a profit of 79.694 euros that year, which is five times better than Barska's result.
The government and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs claim that Crnogorska plovidba is insolvent and plan to help it by leasing its two ships, "Kotor" and "Dvadeset prvi maj", to Barska plovidba for the time being.
Comparison of figures
"Crnogorska plovidba, unlike Barska plovidba, achieved positive results in 2021 according to all methods of determining the profitability of companies, while Barska had negative results according to the income statement and the EBIT method, and the result achieved according to the EBITDA method, the so-called operating profit, was 2,72 times higher in Crnogorska than in Barska plovidba," the business comparison analysis states.
In 2022, Crnogorska plovidba had revenues of 14.081.192 euros, expenses of 11.741.426 euros and a positive operating result of 2.339.766 euros. Barska plovidba had slightly higher revenues of 16.736.756 euros in the same year, but also significantly higher operating expenses of 14.261.814 euros. The Bar company ended that year with a positive income statement result of 2.474.942, only slightly better than the results of Crnogorska, which had regular five-year dockings and technical inspections of both its ships that year. This led to lower revenues during the docking period when the ships were not able to earn money on the market, and on the other hand to higher expenses due to higher costs for repairs and docking.
In 2022, both shipping companies paid both annual installments to the Chinese Exim Bank for loans taken for the construction of their ships in China, with Montenegro's expenses on this basis, due to the less favorable loan taken for it and more expensive ships, amounting to $5,2 million, and for Bar, the installments amounted to $3,5 million.
For 2023 and 2024, the authors of the analysis could only compare data for the first quarters because, as stated, this is the only available data for Barska plovidba in those two years, on the website of the Capital Market Commission.
"It is not known why this is the case, but it is known that certain sanctions are incurred for reports that are not submitted," the analysis states, noting that Crnogorska plovidba, unlike Barska plovidba, regularly submitted all periodic and annual reports to the Capital Market Commission for those two years.
"In the first quarter of 2023, Crnogorska plovidba's revenues amounted to 3.519.617 euros and were 15 percent higher than BP's revenues, which amounted to 3.073.798 euros. On the other hand, Crnogorska plovidba had 2023 percent higher expenses than Barska plovidba in the first quarter of 30 (2.443.361 euros compared to 1.876.312 euros), while the positive result achieved by Crnogorska plovidba in the amount of 1.076.256 euros on the income statement was 10 percent weaker than the positive result achieved by Barska plovidba in the amount of 1.197.486 euros. In this observed period, both companies achieved positive results in all aspects, with the profit achieved by Crnogorska plovidba on the income statement (1,076 million) being some 10% lower than that achieved by Barska plovidba, while the positive results achieved by the methods "EBIT and EBITDA, in Crnogorska, are 10 and 11% higher than in Barska plovidba," the analysis states.
For the first three months of 2024, Crnogorska plovidba's revenues amounted to 2.421.006 euros and were 22 percent higher than Barska plovidba's revenues, which amounted to 1.988.396 euros. For the same period, the Kotor company had one percent lower expenses than the Bar company (2.409.495 euros compared to 2.422.763 euros), while the positive result achieved by the Kotor company of 11.511 euros in the income statement was as much as 3,8 times better than the business score of Barska, which had a loss of 434.367 euros in the income statement.
"According to the report, Crnogorska plovidba, unlike Barska, achieved positive results in all aspects of the company's profitability. According to the income statement, Barska plovidba had a negative operating result of 434 thousand euros in the observed period. According to the EBIT method, Barska plovidba had a better result than Crnogorska by some 63,7 thousand, while according to the EBITDA method, the companies were almost equal," the analysis reads.
Loan repaid to Eksim Bank
Cumulatively for the entire analyzed period, Crnogorska plovidba generated revenues of 27.376.844 euros, expenses of 23.869.617 euros and achieved a positive income statement score of 3.507.227 euros. Barska plovidba had revenues of 27.580.418 euros, expenses of 28.311.131 euros and achieved a negative income statement score of 730.713 euros. This is 1,2 times worse than Crnogorska.
The analysis notes that Crnogorska plovidba achieved positive financial results in all aspects of the company's profitability throughout the observed period, unlike Barska plovidba, which, out of the four observed years, only had positive results in 2022 and 2023, and in 2021 had negative results in two models (income statement and EBIT), and in 2024 it was negative in terms of income statement.
When it comes to the business results of Barska plovidba, it can be concluded that according to the EBIT and EBITDA methods, it had positive business results, while the aggregate result shown in the income statement was negative in the total amount of 730,7 thousand. Regardless of the fact that Barska plovidba's ships are two years younger than Crnogorska's ships, have a greater carrying capacity and a smaller draft, it can still be concluded based on the presented data that Crnogorska plovidba had better business results in the analyzed period," the analysis states.
The document states that since January this year, both ships of Crnogorska plovidba have been fully repaid to the Chinese Exim Bank and that therefore this company can now "function smoothly in the market" (take out new loans to purchase other ships).
Seek an agreement on the repayment of the debt to the state
The analysis states that it is clear that an agreement needs to be made with the Government regarding the method and dynamics of loan repayment to the budget of Montenegro, which was paid by the state to repay the loan to Exim Bank for Crnogorska Plovidba.
"But the position of the relevant minister on the allegedly "catastrophic business of Crnogorska plovidba" and that it now needs to be "saved" by transferring its ships to Barska plovidba for further use is not clear," the analysis says.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs, despite earlier promises by Minister Filip Radulović in September 2024 that it would have the results of an economic analysis of the operations of both companies as soon as possible and based on that, adopt a strategy for how to manage them further, has not made that analysis public to this day. In an interview with RTCG on September 15 last year, Radulović stated that both shipping companies are in a rather poor financial position and announced the completion of the economic analysis of their operations, “in four to six weeks”.
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