The company "Port of Adria", after ten years of privatization, for the first time has greater liabilities than the capital value, and all liquidity coefficients are significantly below the limit for liquid companies, it follows from the data published with the company's financial reports for last year.
This means that this bar company would not be able to survive without the constant financial assistance of the owner, the Turkish company "Global Ports", that is, it would be on the way to bankruptcy.
"Port of Adria" made a loss in business of 1,2 million euros last year, while in 2022 the loss amounted to 766 thousand euros. At the end of last year, the total accumulated loss amounted to 37,6 million euros, which caused the basic capital of 71,2 million to be reduced to 33,6 million. The company's total liabilities at the end of last year amounted to 34,3 million euros.
This company, the former Port of Bar Container Terminals, was privatized at the beginning of 2014, when the state package of 62 percent of shares was sold for eight million euros, with the obligation to invest an additional 13,5 million in the restructuring program, and after the completion of that work, in the period from five years, another seven million in new investments.
A year before that privatization, the Government of that time carried out a recapitalization of 10,5 million euros, in order to increase its share package from 56 to 62 percent. In other words, the Government paid 10,5 million euros for six percent of the shares, and then sold ten times more, 62 percent of the shares, for eight million and an obligation to invest 20,5 million.
The new owner started significant investments only in 2018, when "Port of Adria" received a loan of 20 million euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which was guaranteed by "Global Ports". The remaining amount of this loan is 10,5 million euros.
Since the privatization until now, the number of workers in the company has been reduced from 580 to 290, and last year they had to fight for a minimum salary increase with a strike.
The company meets its obligations thanks to constant borrowings from its majority owner. At the end of last year, the bar company's debt to the majority owner amounted to 10 million euros and was about 4,5 million euros higher than the year before.
Last year, the company achieved business income of 8,7 million euros, about a million euros more than in 2022. Business expenses were 3,9 million, about 300 thousand more, while salary costs amounted to another 3,5 million euros and were about 100 thousand more than in 2022. "Port of Adria" had to pay back 2,5 million euros of loans last year.
Former Prime Minister's Government Dritan Abazović In 2022, initiated negotiations with "Global Ports" regarding the purchase of their package of shares in "Port of Adria", with the intention of annexing this company to the Port of Bar, in order to re-create a large state-owned port.
In order to be able to make a decision on the merger, the Government had to have at least two-thirds ownership in Port of Bar, which it did not have at that time, but only 54 percent of the shares. At the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the government bought another 23 percent of the shares for a total of 12,5 million euros in several transactions.
Luka Bar shares were bought at an average price of 89 cents, and now they are worth 31,6 cents on the stock exchange.
The second part of the "Port of Adria" shares purchase plan was not completed during the mandate of the previous Government. At the end of last year, this company announced to "Vijesta" that the negotiations began in January 2023, but that after several meetings, submission of information and documents, they did not receive any feedback from the Government.
At that time, they also announced a possible lawsuit against the state.
"Due to the Government's decision from 2018 to enable the Port of Bar and private companies to engage in our activity, we lost revenues of more than ten million euros. Our owner 'Global Ports' will decide whether to sue the state for this," the bar company said at the time.
For the first quarter of this year, a new loss of over half a million
This company started the year 2024 even worse, because in three months they realized a new loss of 583 thousand euros, while last year for the same period the minus amounted to 37 thousand.
The business income of the company for this period amounted to 2,1 million euros, that is, they were lower by about 160 thousand euros, than for the comparative period of the previous year.
Operating expenses remained at one million euros, but salary expenses increased from 893 thousand in the first quarter of 2023 to 1,02 million this year.
Expenses based on interest amounted to 676 thousand euros.
The total accumulated loss at the end of March rose to 38,2 million euros.
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