The minority shareholders of Luka Bar are not enthusiastic about the price offered by the Polish OT Logistics for the shares of the Bar company and believe that there is room for improvement in the offer, the representative of the minority shareholders on the board of Luka Bar, Aleksandar Jovović, told "Vijesta".
"OTL intends to buy a healthy and profitable company whose business performance has been rapidly improving since 2015. Provided that their negotiations with the Government regarding the purchase of 30 percent of the shares of Luka Bar are successfully completed, we expect them to continue that business trend, we expect them to bring in new clients, to realize the promised investment of 17,1 million euros, which will further increase the value of the company for almost its current market capitalization", said Jovović.
He adds that the minority shareholders expect to adopt a dividend policy, as in the OTL Logistics company, and to undertake to distribute a minimum of 50 percent of the realized profit to the shareholders through dividends every year.
He said that for now there is only unofficial interest in the purchase of shares from minority shareholders.
The Poles offered 7,1 million for 30 percent of state shares or 41,69 cents per share.
Jovović cites the example of the purchase of a minority package of shares of the Port of Rijeka, where in mid-2015 OTL bought a minority package of only 20,81 percent and paid 15 million euros for it, without a management contract and a guaranteed possibility of reaching majority ownership.
"It is true that the Port of Rijeka is significantly higher than the Port of Bar in terms of current revenues and handling, but if we compare the business results from 2016, the achieved EBITDA and net profit are significantly higher in the Port of Bar compared to the Port of Rijeka. Also, since 2014, the Port of Bar has recorded growth in revenues and transshipments at very high annual rates, while the revenues of the Port of Rijeka have been declining in recent years from 24,50 million euros in 2014 to 22,60 million in 2016. The Port of Rijeka has about 15,5, 4 million in short-term and long-term liabilities, while the Port of Bar has less than XNUMX million euros in total liabilities. All of these are important factors that influence the assessment of the fair value of a company", stated Jovović.
He said that the minority shareholders are satisfied with the operations of Luka Bar in 2016, as well as with the already contracted operations for 2017.
"The volume of realized ship transshipment amounted to 1.209.000 tons and is 48 percent higher than the transshipment realized in 2015. During 2016, a significant increase in income was achieved. When it comes to 2017, the works contracted so far guarantee an annual transshipment of 1.750.000 tons, which is about 65 percent of the designed capacity of the Port of Bar, i.e. an increase in ship transshipment by an additional 44 percent compared to 2016, i.e. 115 percent compared to 2015. .year. All this is the result of the serious and dedicated work of the existing management and employees", added Jovović.
He notes that there is room for improving the financial result and for even more efficient management of the resources at the disposal of the Port of Bar, and that this should be worked on during 2017 in order to cover the uncovered loss from previous years and create the possibility of paying dividends to shareholders after the end of 2017.
"It is in the interest of all parties that the negotiations with OTL be concluded within a reasonable time so that this uncertainty does not have a negative impact on business operations. I will agree that the offered price is not fantastic, I guess because they were the only seriously interested buyer from the very beginning, and the timing of the tender itself could have been better, because I think that after the officially announced results for 2016 or even for 2017, the interest would be significantly higher , and therefore the offered price. It will be much easier and more favorable to privatize the Port of Bar with 1,75 million tons of transshipment than with 812 thousand tons, which was realized during 2015", concluded Jovović.
They valued the Port of Rijeka three times more than the Port of Bar
According to Jovović, OTL Logistics' offered price of EUR 0,4169 per share represents 33 percent of the book value of Luka Bar, i.e. they value the entire Port of Bar at 23,6 million for the controlling package of shares and the management contract, while the shares of Luka Rijeka are paid for at book value value of HRK 40 per share, i.e. a market capitalization of EUR 72,6 million for a minority package that does not grant any management rights.
"According to that, OTL Logistics valued Port of Rijeka more than three times more when purchasing their minority share package compared to Port of Bar, and Port of Rijeka has only twice as much revenue as Port of Bar, with a tendency to further reduce that difference during 2017, and almost four times is more indebted than Luka Bar and less profitable than Luka Bar", emphasized Jovović.
Bonus video:
