STA, 8 September 2020 - Gorenje Group generated a net loss of EUR 55.2 million last year, down from 2018's EUR 111.2 million. One-off events excluded, the group's loss amounted to EUR 37.3 million. Revenue meanwhile rose by 4% to EUR 1.23 billion, shows the group's annual report published on the website of the AJPES agency.
Profit before tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 4.4% to EUR 28.3 million, while operating loss rose from 28.2 million in 2018 to EUR 44.6 million.
The group said the loss was largely a result of poor performance in the first quarter of 2019, when the volume of sales was rather low.
Following a number of measures to avert the trend, business improved, with a pronounced upward trend recorded in the second half of the year, which was however not enough to offset the early poor start.
The group generated almost 57% of revenue in eastern Europe, about a third in western Europe and the rest around the globe.
The group's home appliances unit increased its revenue by 6.6% to EUR 1.15 billion, posting the biggest rise (+11%) in east European markets.
It had an average 10,661 employees last year, or 437 fewer than in 2018, mostly because of sale of four non-core companies.
The parent company Gorenje meanwhile generated EUR 836.6 million in sales revenue, up 2.1% from 2018, posting a net loss of 59.6 million, down from EUR 126.8 million.
The group continued integration into China's Hisense Group last year, transforming from a publicly listed company into a limited company.
To improve efficiency, reorganisation of business processes at the level of the entire Gorenje group was launched after the group was bought by Hisense in 2018.
Gorenje announced a new investment cycle for this year to develop new products and modernise production in a bid to offer new and competitive products.
This should bring about growth in sales and revenue, so Gorenje Group expects to finish 2020 with a profit.
