According to unofficial sources, Croatian crude oil transportation company JANAF could be privatized, as the minority stake in the company would be offered for sale. Because of these speculations, the Zagreb Stock Exchange has included JANAF’s shares in the observation segment.
In recent years, privatization of JANAF was announced on several occasion, but the idea was dropped due to public pressure. However, new Croatian Government is currently forming and the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection should be one of the most important ones, with Slaven Dobrovic as the Minister. This will also be the first time that large energy companies such as INA, HEP, JANAF or Plinacro would be under the control of this Ministry.
JANAF’s shares have increased in value by 20 % since the beginning of the year, and the price last week stood at 718.58 euros per share. However, the liquidity is still modest and these shares are rarely among the most traded ones on the exchange. The fact that will spur additional interest in the company is that Hungarian MOL will transport crude oil imported from Iran via JANAF’s pipelines.
JANAF’s operational results are improving from year to year. The company recorded a net profit of nearly 18 million euros in the first half of 2016, which is an increase of 55.8 % compared to the same period last year. In the first six months of 2016, JANAF achieved total revenues in the amount of 49.4 million euros which is 18 % more than in the first half of 2015, while total expenditures fell by 1.8 % to 13.62 million euros.
Revenues from crude oil transportation accounted for 63.6 % of the revenues from the company’s core business, which increased by 28.2 % compared to the first half of 2015, mainly due to higher volume of oil transports for foreign customers. Revenues from crude oil storage accounted for 25.5 % of the revenues from the company’s core business and increased by 17 % as a result of increased business activities and new contract with major oil and petroleum products traders. Of the total revenues from core business in the first half of 2016, 72.1 % was generated from business with foreign customers, 35.6 % more than in the same period last year.
