The commissioner of the Government of Croatia for Agrokor Ante Ramljak visited Sarajevo again and attended the meeting with BH suppliers. According to him, part of the loan that was approved to Agrokor will be transferred to BiH, but he could not specify the amount.
Ramljak stated that it is necessary to recapitalize Konzum from Croatia. He also announced that the separation of Konzum and Mercator will be started on August 1, and it will last until September 1, after which the debt to BH suppliers that amounts to 80 million BAM should be paid. Mercator will take over its 83 stores that were in their lease before its merger with Konzum, and Konzum will keep its 170 stores.
“The message to the public and the employees is that there will no sudden layoff of hundreds of people as it was assumed, and there is no need for that. We have a shortage of people in some stores since we do not have enough people to replenish the shelves,” said Ramljak, and added that they are working on reducing the cost of business operation of Konzum.
He could not say precisely how many stores in BiH are unprofitable, but he revealed that there is interest from domestic retail chains in taking over certain locations. Thus, Bingo will take over the objects and employees in Zenica.
We need restructuring, and it involves reducing operating costs and it does not necessarily mean the closure of our stores and layoffs. We will make everything possible to move some people who are working in our stores to some other jobs within the business operations of the group.
Adin Fakic, the Director of dairy Milkos, stated that Konzum promised to take over the claims and pay the debt to BH suppliers.
“Konzum BIH as an x customer is as important for market preservation as all other customers, especially when it comes to domestic products. The dairy industry in BiH, whose member is Milkos, is purchasing milk from about 13,000 farms on a daily basis, and anything that would lead to the closing of company x as a buyer would lead to a collapse of that branch.
(Source: nap.ba)
