In the region of the Western Balkans, the highest economic growth will be recorded by Montenegro for the third year in a row. Data from the World Bank speak of GDP growth of 13 percent in 2021 and 6.4 percent in 2022, and most likely 4.8 percent at the end of the current year. The reason for this lies in the fact that Montenegro, in fact, experienced the biggest, even dramatic decline in economic activities in 2020, so its growth starts from a lower base, mostly due to the pandemic closure and complete suspension of tourism.
The one-year collapse of this economic branch in a predominantly tourist-oriented country was felt by the results of the economy in the later period as well. A large number of companies were closed, and some of them, although not directly involved in tourist activities, operated depending on consumption during the summer or winter season of visits.
Last year brought new external challenges. After the recovery from the pandemic and the normalization of economic conditions, the region faced the effects of a slowdown in global growth and a sharp jump in energy and food prices, resulting in high inflation and difficult trade exchanges.
Polish purchasing power and business confidence affected the economic results, but in Montenegro the strong growth of personal consumption – along with the recovery of tourism – finally brought better news.
According to the results of Monstat and the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, household personal consumption jumped by as much as 20.6 percent year-on-year, which had a particularly positive effect on all business entities involved in trade.
It is particularly interesting to see how these cross-market opportunities have affected the operations of the largest economic entities.
According to the categorization of the Revenue and Customs Administration, 36 large companies operated in Montenegro, which is less than 0.1 percent of the total number of companies in the country. According to this internationally accepted classification, large companies include companies that meet two of three criteria: having more than 250 employees, or more than 4,000,000 euros in revenue, or assets of more than 20,000,000 euros. (This differs from Monstat’s classification, which recognizes large enterprises solely by the number of employees.)
Portal Biznis.rs presents a list of the most successful large companies in Montenegro in 2022. Our list includes companies that performed positively at the end of the year, and the position on the list is the result of a mathematical calculation that includes the most important business parameters: total revenue, net profit, added value per employee, revenue growth index in 2022, compared to 2021, EBITDA in 2022, compared to 2021, and the indebtedness criterion – if the company has net debt that exceeds five times the value of EBITDA, then it cannot be ranked as successful, because it means that it is over-indebted and that it is large the likelihood that they will get blocked and have liquidity problems.
The data for creating the ranking was obtained from the analytical partner, credit rating company CompanyWall, based on the annual reports of the companies.
There are 31 large companies on the list of the most successful for 2022. According to activities, companies engaged in trade are by far the most represented. First on the list is Voli Trade, which is the leader in terms of total revenue (319,231,736 euros) and the number of employees (2,186).
Of the observed companies, 29 of them achieved an increase in income compared to a year earlier.
The company Crnogorski elektroprenosni sistem achieved the highest net profit, with 20,275,440 euros, while Master inženjering had the highest added value per employee.
Overall, the most successful large companies achieved a total of EUR 158,354,037 in net profit and had a total of 14,289 employees, with an average added value of EUR 33,948.74 per employee.
The list includes two energy companies, two catering companies and two telecommunications companies, as well as three construction companies.
Montenegro business destination. Don’t go there, live there.
