Top 5 Companies with Biggest Losses in Serbia 2024

The biggest net loss in Serbia, in 2024, was made by the company Continental Automotive Serbia, which had a loss of almost 170 million euros, according to the “Sto naj” report on the operations of companies in Serbia, which is published every year by the Serbian Business Registers Agency (APR). It operates three car parts factories – in Novi Sad, Kać, and Subotica. This loss is greater than the one in 2023 by about two times. As stated in the APR report, the biggest contribution to the growth of the net loss was the scrapping of inventory due to the establishment of series production of high-tech quality displays.

The second company on the list of companies with the biggest losses is the Chinese HBIS Group, i.e., Smederevo Ironworks. This company ended last year with a loss of almost 150 million euros. In fact, compared to 2023, the company maintained its high second place on the list of biggest losers. As Nova Ekonomija has already written, import quotas and duties on imported steel introduced by the European Union in 2019 had a major impact on the deteriorating business of the Smederevo Ironworks. In fact, since then, the only year in which ironworks made a profit was 2021.

The next company is Arena Channels Group. The company in question is 100% owned by Telekom Srbija. As can be seen from the financial statements, in 2024 Arena realized a net loss in the amount of about 111 million euros, which is an increase compared to 2023, when the loss was 67 million euros. That is an increase in losses of as much as 65 percent. One of the factors that influenced Arena’s poor results was the cost of amortization of intangible assets, which was mostly related to licenses for TV content.

Then, the fourth company with the largest net loss in Serbia last year was Putevi Srbije (Public Enterprise Roads of Serbia), a public company that ended the year in the red by more than 97 million euros, which is two-thirds more than a year earlier. As explained in more detail in the APR analysis, in addition to higher revenues from road usage fees, due to lower revenues from donations, the company’s business revenues decreased by 6.2 percent, and business expenses increased by 1.3 percent, which certainly affected the final bad result.

Finally, the fifth biggest loser was Petrohemija Pancevo, with a net loss of around 65 million euros. Despite the negative result, Petrohemija reduced its losses by about 58 percent in one year. This company is majority-owned by Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS), which has been under US sanctions since October 9 due to Russian ownership. The remaining ten percent is owned by the Republic of Serbia.

Contrary to this list, the list of companies with the highest net profit in Serbia last year included Elektroprivreda Srbije (a joint-stock electric utility power company fully owned by the Government of Serbia), NIS, Zijin Copper and Zijin Mining, as well as Srbijagas.