Achievements of the most successful companies in 2019 presented in the Top 100 publication

The Top 100 in Montenegro Project has been brought to its completion even in this COVID year, and the result of several months of dedicated work is the publication “Business Newspaper – TOP 100 in Montenegro 2020”, which is available on the market starting from today and which promotes business achievements of the most successful companies.

Within the “Top 100 in Montenegro” Project, companies operating on the territory of Montenegro have been analysed and ranked for already three years. The basis used for this extensive analysis includes the data presented in their financial statements, and the clear criteria applied to rank them are publicly available on the Project’s official website. Winners of the prestigious awards were announced in May, and the information about all ranked companies have been published in this year’s edition of the “Business Newspaper – TOP 100 in Montenegro 2020”.

The Project, aimed at improving and promoting the Montenegrin economy, was initiated by the leading Montenegrin provider of information on creditworthiness, BI Consulting, in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, with the support of the Montenegrin Chamber of Economy and the general sponsorship of Podgorička banka and Crnogorska komercijalna banka, both members of the OTP Group.

The founder of BI Consulting, Mr Ratko Nikolić, has said that 2019 was a very successful business year by many parameters, and has added that the Business Newspaper publication will remain as a testimony of individual valuable business results of entities that the Montenegrin economy relies on.

“In that sense, we are also proud that, by doing this job, we are contributing to the promotion of successful business practices, which we will be happy to do in the coming years, as well,” Mr Nikolić has said.

He has explained that, taking into consideration correctly filed financial reports, the 2019 revenues are 8.44 percent higher compared to 2018 and amounted to 9.91 billion euros.

“The business results after taxes amounted to 301.2 million euros and are 8 percent higher. The number of employees in companies grew by 6.91 percent and, according to the submitted correct data, there were 133,594 employees in companies on average in 2019“, Mr Nikolić has explained.

The number of companies that made a profit is 6.7 percent higher, meaning that business operations of 10,756 companies in total were profitable.

“1,339 companies had revenues exceeding one million euros, which is 6.76 percent more than the previous year. 1,038 companies had net profit of more than one hundred thousand euros, which is 15.8 percent more than the previous year. All these data show that this was the most successful business year since the business data became publicly available, and we have good reasons to believe that this period is much longer. We are convinced that the 2019 results can serve as a benchmark for measuring the speed of recovery of the Montenegrin economy after the crisis caused by COVID-19”, Mr Nikolić believes.

The Ministry of Finance has congratulated the Project implementors for their determination and effort to make this a continuous endeavour possible.

“Very useful data are provided in this way, and they can be used as a good basis for both businessmen and decision makers to design their future policies or business strategies. We are particularly encouraged by the fact that the small business sector increased its profit in 2019 by as much as 86.75 percent. Within the context of the current pandemic, the results of the 2020 survey to identify consequences of the pandemic on the business operations of companies in Montenegro will be especially interesting,” Mr Nemanja Katnić, state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, has said.

Mr. Radosav Babić, director general of the Directorate for Investments, Development of Small and Medium Enterprises and Management of EU Funds at the Ministry of Economy, has said that support for domestic businessmen and creation of a stable business environment are one of the strategic commitments of the Ministry of Economy.

“The economic policy is focused on further improvement of the business environment, with the aim to contribute to the further growth and development of the private sector. The Ministry of Economy continues to provide full support to all companies, both those that are among the Top 100 and companies that certainly aspire to be on the list of the most successful ones in Montenegro,” Mr Babić has said.

Mrs Ljiljana Filipović, vice president of the Montenegrin Chamber of Economy, has said that the third edition of the special publication “Business Newspapers – Top 100 in Montenegro 2020” represents a strong contribution to the promotion of the success achieved by the best companies.

“Their results deserve respect, both in terms of achieved values and in terms of importance for the development of the Montenegrin society. The business community would like to express its gratitude to BI Consulting, the implementor of the “Top 100 in Montenegro” Project, for making valuable information available in this way for future activities,” Mrs Filipović has said.

She has said that the Montenegrin Chamber of Economy, an association that pools the interests of the entire Montenegrin economy, supports the promotion of success and is very active “to make the business environment as favourable as possible, and to ensure that our members are increasingly recognized with each new edition of the publication as a serious and reliable partner for cooperation”.

“We are proud to have supported this year’s activities within the ‘Top 100 in Montenegro’ Project. As the largest bank, it was natural for CKB to participate in this project and we are glad that we have contributed to make successes of Montenegrin companies become visible and recognized,” Mr Pal Kovacs, CEO of the Crnogorska komercijalna banka, has said.

He has added that CKB initiates innovations, modernization, improvement of business culture and business climate, and therefore this Project, as he has explained, is in line with their aspiration to be at the service of their clients and to promote their joint successes.

“I would like to congratulate to all ranked companies, which include a large number of clients of CKB and Podgorička banka. Our mission is to be the initiator of their further development, to contribute to the introduction of the highest European business standards as well as to help clients accomplish their best results. On this occasion, I would like to commend the commitment of the organizers and the content of this year’s “Top 100″ publication, which is the result of their and our efforts to highlight those companies that achieve the best results and thus contribute to the progress of the economy and entire society,” Mr Kovacs has concluded.

The “Business Newspapers – Top 100 in Montenegro 2020” publication can be order via the website www.100najvecih.me .