According to the Statistical Office of Slovenia, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 13.0% compared to the Q2 of 2019 and by 9.6% compared to the first quarter of 2020.
In the second quarter of 2020, decrease could mostly be attributed to domestic consumption as lock-down of the economy due to Covid-19 pandemic imposed damage. Domestic expenditure declined by 12.0% YoY due to both final consumption expenditure and gross capital formation. Namely, final consumption expenditure declined by 11.8% YoY while gross capital formation dropped by 12.8% YoY. General government expenditure growth decelerated to +1.5% (vs. +4.9% YoY in Q1) as government introduced measures to dampen the fall in economic activity.
Household final consumption, as the most significant component of the final domestic expenditure, decreased by 16.6% YoY and gross fixed capital formation by 16.7% YoY. Decline in construction investment was less prominent than decline of investment in machinery and equipment; construction investment went down by 14.1% and investment in machinery and equipment by 26.2%.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and halt in international trade, the drop of external demand evidenced in Q1 for the first time in ten years continued and exports decreased by 24.5% YoY, export of goods decreased by 21.9% and due to stop in international travelling export of serviced dropped by 35%. Similar decrease was evidenced with imports which decreased by 25%. Due to strong drop in exports, the external trade balance had a negative contribution to GDP growth (-2.1 p.p.).
Source: Statistical Office of Slovenia
By looking at the latest announcement from the Tax Administration of the Republic of Croatia, being tracked for Covid-19 pandemic purposes, in the period from 24 Feb till 30 Aug 2020 the value of taxable invoices decreased by 19.0% YoY.
A higher frequency data is compiled by Croatian Tax Administration, a department of the Ministry of Finance, who stated that the value of taxable invoices dropped by 19.0% YoY in the period from 24 February till 30 August. Drop in taxable invoices in wholesale and retail trade in the same period was only at 10% while drop in accommodation and food services was at 46%.
The value of taxable invoices has also dropped in the 4th week of August 2020, as imposing measures for tourist coming from Croatia have continued. The value decreased by 10% compared to the 3rd week of August. Drop in taxable invoices in the wholesale and retail trade in the same week of August compared to previous one was at 8% while drop in accommodation and food services was at 25%.
According to a statement released on the Zagreb Stock Exchange yesterday, HT and Ericsson NT have agreed to continue the managed services cooperation for telecommunication networks.
According to a statement released on the Zagreb Stock Exchange yesterday, Hrvatski Telekom and Ericsson NT have signed an extension of the management services agreement for the construction and maintenance of fixed and mobile telecommunications infrastructure, supervision of the telecommunications network, and field maintenance of the active access network and passive network.
The Agreement is in force until the end of 2023, and its frame value is over HRK 1.6bn. According to the statement, Ericsson NT has exclusivity for activities in the domain of the contract.
As a reminder, at the beginning of the year Ericsson NT announced that they are taking over the full responsibility for building and maintaining HT’s telecommunications infrastructure from their parent company.
The shareholders approved the allocation of the 2019 profit of HRK 124.5m to retained earnings, which implies no dividend payment in 2020.
Arena Hospitality Group held their GSM in which the shareholders approved the profit distribution for the year 2019. The shareholders approved the allocation of the 2019 profit of HRK 124.5m to retained earnings, which implies no dividend payment in 2020. On 27 July Arena published a call for General Shareholders Meeting when it announced that its 2019 profit will be distributed to retained earnings. In its 2019 audited report the company said that it is outlined in their dividend policy, going forward the company will take into account the business performance, future investment plans and overall business environment when considering the payment of dividends.
As a reminder, in 2019 Arena Hospitality Group paid a dividend of HRK 5 per share, while dividend yield was 1.5% (compared to the share price a day before the dividend proposal). Dividend payout has amounted to HRK 25.6m, which translated into a payout ratio of 29%. General Assembly of the company was held on 30 April 2019 and the decision on dividend payment was adopted, under which a dividend of HRK 5.00 per share was paid out from part of the retained earnings from 2017.