As EURO 2020 is starting tomorrow, we decided to present you with our predictions for all group stages.
For today’s blog, we decided to steer away from the financial markets and address the elephant in the room: EURO 2020. The long awaited tournament starts tomorrow, while the first match will be played between Italy, as one of the co-hosts of the tournament, and Turkey.
Croatia found its place in Group D and will be facing England, Czech Republic and Scotland. This is the 6th time that Croatia is competing on the tournament (first being in 1996), while the country did not qualify for it only once (back in 2000). So far, the biggest success on the tournament was reaching quarterfinals in 1996 and 2008. As visible from the table below, we are expecting that Croatia will qualify for the round of 16 by ending 2nd in the Group.
Below, you can find our predictions on the development in each Group. We note that the stated predictions are a consensus of InterCapital Securities employees. We are by no means football experts, but there are definitely a couple football enthusiasts among us. Following the end of the Group stage, we will be revisiting our estimates to see how accurate they were and will be giving another prediction on the knock out stage as well.
Knockout Stage – InterCapital Estimates (Round of 16)
Group A:
- Italy (Winner) ✓
- Turkey (Runner Up) ✓
- Switzerland (Does not qualify) X
- Wales (Does not qualify) X
Group B:
- Belgium (Winner) ✓
- Denmark (Runner Up) ✓
- Russia (Qualifies as third) ✓
- Finland (Does not qualify) X
Group C:
- Netherlands (Winner) ✓
- Ukraine (Runner Up) ✓
- Austria (Qualifies as third) ✓
- North Macedonia (Does not qualify) X
Group D:
- England (Winner) ✓
- CROATIA (Runner Up) ✓
- Czech Republic (Does not qualify) X
- Scotland (Does not qualify) X
Group E:
- Spain (Winner) ✓
- Poland (Runner Up) ✓
- Sweden (Qualifies as third) ✓
- Slovakia (Does not qualify) X
Group F:
- France (Winner) ✓
- Portugal (Runner Up) ✓
- Germany (Qualifies as third) ✓
- Hungary (Does not qualify) X
Source: InterCapital Estimates
Over the next five years, the Podravka Group plans to invest about HRK 5bn in the modernization and digitalization of production and logistics, marketing and acquisitions.
The Supervisory Board of Podravka has given its consent to the Podravka Group Strategic plan for the period 2021 – 2025.
The Strategy clearly defines the areas for achieving progress in operations, to further strengthen the capability of the Podravka Group to continually recognise the needs of consumers, and to more quickly adapt to changes in consumer habits, while retaining high quality and health standards of products. In the forthcoming period, Podravka Group intends to get closer to its consumers, to remain a reliable partner in overcoming the challenges of modern life, by offering a wide selection of high quality products.
In the forthcoming period, the Food division of the Group will place special emphasis on the development of products and product and packaging innovations that are directed at increasing the accessibility of Podravka products, and their adjustments to the needs and habits of different consumer groups. The future accelerated growth and development of the Food division will be based on product categories with a higher export potential, such as seasonings, soups and baked goods, and will be focused on the wealthier markets with high potential in Western and Central Europe. For the Croatian market and the Adria region, these markets will continue to be the dominant focus in the forthcoming period, and further growth is expected to retain the strong market position. With this strategic approach, stronger growth of sales revenue share in Western and Central Europe is expected, in terms of total sales revenues.
With regard to acquisitions, the Strategy also clearly defines the criteria for the consideration of and selection of acquisition subjects. It is key to stress that with possible acquisitions in the Food division, Podravka Group aims to strengthen its presence and market position on markets and in categories which are in the focus of further accelerated growth.
The second division of Podravka Group, Pharmaceuticals (Belupo), will place its focus in the forthcoming period on stronger growth on international markets, particularly Central and Eastern Europe, expansion of the portfolio with products with additional ATC (anatomic therapeutic chemical) groups, and spurring growth on the domestic market with the introduction of new products. Growth will be strongly spurred through the launch of new molecules both in the prescription and over-the-counter programmes.
The implementation of the adopted Strategy implies investments in the amount of HRK 1.4bn in marketing to achieve organic growth, HRK 1.7bn in investments to modernize and digitalize production and logistics processes, and about HRK 2bn for acquisitions.