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Zlomrex, the Polish company that purchased Željezara Split (Split Steelworks factory) two years ago, announced the sale of the Split company by mid-2009.

Zlomrex’s Management Board President and its lone shareholder, Mr. Przemyslaw Sztuczkowski, commented for the Polish website PNB that he has made the decision to sell Željezara Split by the end of June this year. Poslovni Dnevnik confirmed the information from Zlomrex, who stated that because of the current world market situation faced by all steel manufacturers Sztuczkowski is keeping all options open in order to save Željezara Split and maintain jobs. The spokesperson of Željezara Split, Mrs. Ivana Krešo, said that ‘’Zlomrex will discuss their decision with the Croatian Privatization Fund’’. Even after we thought the various issues regarding Croatian steal factories in Split and Sisak have been resolved, things started getting complicated once again. The steel factory in Split has not been operational for several months. Speculations have been circulating for some time that, aside from the global recession issues, Željezara is facing ‘’certain problems’’ with the Croatian authorities and their employees. The Split steel factory union claims that Zlomrex was contractually obligated to invest 10,1 million kunas into the steel factory upon purchase. They also announced that they were to invest an additional 200 million kunas, with 140 million in the first two years. The Union is pointing fingers at Zlomrex for increasing the factory’s debt by this amount, rather than investing it. Wishing to stay anonymous because of the sensitivity of the situation, the consultant involved in the take-over of Željezara Split commented that this crisis has been caused by the Government and the Privatization Fund by not promptly signing over the mortgage of the steel factory. The consultant pointed out ‘’the Polish company is not to blame for the lack of natural gas. Without natural gas there is no production and Željezara Split could not operate. All institutions worked against the steel factory and the best example for this is the gas plant. Additionally, last summer a large number of workers were on sick leave; out of a total of 400 employees, an average of 80-100 were daily on sick leave.’’
(Pd)

Results

Loss of 101 Million Kunas
Željezara Split (Split Steel Factory) ended last year with a loss of 101 million kunas. The management saw this as the result of the downturn in the global steel market and the reduced production at the end of last year due to the lack of natural gas. The negative business results and conflicts with the workers and the state resulted in the change of the President of the Board; Mr. Michael Konczak was appointed instead of Mr. Ryszard Giemiza.