The mentioned price represents the upper range of the offering (HRK 160 – HRK 175).

Span, one of the most anticipated listings on the ZSE in recent times, has confirmed the IPO price at HRK 175 per share. The mentioned price represents the upper range of the offering (HRK 160 – HRK 175). The IPO price translates into a market cap of HRK 343m or P/E (2020) of 46x and EV/ EBITDA (2020) of 11.4x.

The announcement of the final results of the public offering will be on Tuesday, September 21 when it will be known how many shares were sold in total and how much the investors paid in total for the offered shares. Following the aforementioned, we can expect the listing of the company on ZSE and the start of trading. As a reminder, 578.2k shares were offered, representing 29.5% of the share capital.

According to the company’s prospectus, Span operated in 2020 with sales of HRK 613.8m, EBITDA of 31.5m (EBITDA margin at 5.1%) and a net profit of HRK 7.45m (profit margin 1.2%).

Span Financials (2018 – 2020) (HRK m)

In the first 8 months of 2021, GWPs grew by 10.95% YoY. GWPs in non-life insurances grew 11.61% YoY and life insurance also grew by 8.95% YoY.

Croatian Insurance Bureau published the GWP development in August 2021. Since the beginning of the year, GWP’s rose by 10.95% compared to the same period last year. The total amount of GWPs collected reached HRK 8.2bn (includes insurers located in Croatia and insurers operating in Croatia but based in another EU country).

The amount of GWPs in non-life insurances, which traditionally account for the biggest portion, grew 11.61% YoY, amounting to HRK 6.2bn. In this segment, Triglav osiguranje observed solid increase of 25.38% YoY to HRK 448.7m. Croatia osiguranje accounted for 29% of the market in this segment, showing a 1.88 p.p. YoY decrease.

Life segment observed an increase of 8.95% YoY (or HRK 163.8m). However, we note that Croatia’s largest insurer, Croatia osiguranje observed a slight decrease in this segment compared to the same period last year of 0.92%.

When observing GWPs by structure since the beginning of the year, insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (which accounts for 24.48% of GWPs) recorded a high increase of 15.71% YoY (or HRK 270.1m). The second biggest category in non-life insurance is vehicle insurance (casco policy) which accounts for 11.61% of total GWPs recorded a solid increase of 7.4%. Health insurance also observed a solid YTD performance of +10.11%.

The impact from two destructive earthquakes which struck central Croatia is still seen on two insurance categories which both observed an increase: fire and elemental insurance with +11.3% and other property insurance +13.79%.  Credit insurance observed a sharp increase of 34.33% (or HRK 60.4m).

According to the latest announcement from the Tax Administration of the Republic of Croatia the value of last week’s taxable invoices (06th Sept – 12th Sept) increased by 11.4% YoY compared to the same period in 2019. This is in line with the fact that Croatia is experiencing strong tourist results due to the late start of high season and favourable epidemiological conditions. So value of taxable invoices from accommodation and food services activities is up 34.7% compared to the same period in 2019.

The weekly data issued by the Croatian Tax Administration, a department of the Ministry of Finance, stated that the total value of taxable invoices issued last week is up by 36.9% YoY (or HRK 1.3bn), reaching HRK 4.9bn. Compared to the same period in 2019 the value of taxable invoices is up by HRK 509m or 11.4% leading up to HRK 4.9bn. This is in line with the fact that Croatia is experiencing strong tourist results due to late start of high season and favourable weather conditions.

Strong hospitality results are evidenced in the value of taxable invoices from accommodation and food services activities which in the 2nd week of September increased by 147.5% YoY (HRK 580m) to 974m. The reasons behind such a significant raise could arguably seen in a low base effect (travel restrictions and epidemiological measures which were in place in Croatia last year) as well as Croatia being one of the safer countries to travel to this summer as per European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Comparing the same period in 2019 the value of invoices increased by 34.7% (or HRK 251m). We note that the accommodation and food services activities in Croatia are flourishing (on a YoY basis) as a result of more favourable epidemiological situation compared to other popular holiday destinations and because of more lenient travel restrictions.

Increase in taxable invoices in wholesale and retail trade in the 2nd week of September was at 18.2% (or HRK 457m) which amounted to HRK 2.9bn. Compared to the same week in 2019, value of invoices is up by 5.8% (or HRK 163m). Longer period that is being tracked for pandemic purposes is 22 Feb – 12 Sep, which also shows that taxable invoices in wholesale and retail trade are up 27% YoY, and are 5.6% higher compared to the same period in 2019. Total value of taxable invoices in the period 22 Feb – 12 Sep is 27% higher YoY, which is expected due to low base imposed by pandemic conditions. Overall spending in the period from 22 Feb to 12 Sep of 2021 due to pent-up demand surpassed 2019 spending level by 3%.