The Viro sugar factory ( hr, Viro tvornica šećera), commonly referred to as just Viro, is a
sugar refinery
A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar.
Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...
based in
Virovitica
Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
. The company's shares are listed on the
Zagreb Stock Exchange
The Zagreb Stock Exchange or ZSE ( hr, Zagrebačka burza ) is a stock exchange located in Zagreb, Croatia. It is Croatia's only stock exchange. The exchange trades shares of Croatian companies, as well as bonds and commercial bills.
The ZSE was ...
(ZSE) and is one of the 25 companies included in its official
share index
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.
Two of the pri ...
CROBEX
CROBEX is the official share index of the Zagreb Stock Exchange. As of August 2022, it includes stocks of 22 companies and is calculated continuously using the latest stock prices. It is measured using free float market capitalization, where the ...
as of September
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
.
The refinery was originally built in 1980 and had the daily refining capacity of 4,000 tons of
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
.
Established as an independent company, it was briefly part of the PIK Virovitica agricultural company between 1984 and 1991.
In the 1990s the refinery experienced a steady decline in revenue and income which resulted in it being bought and re-bought several times in the late 1990s, before eventually being acquired by the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
company Cosun and shortly after that filing for bankruptcy in 1999, with debts totaling some 575 million
HRK.
After a period of internal restructuring the refinery's property was sold to two Croatian-based companies for 110 million HRK in
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, after which the company was re-established as a
limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
in September 2002.
The company's shares were listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange in April 2006.
The company had managed to successfully bounce back in the late 2000s and it became the biggest such refinery in Croatia, with a 37 percent market share in the local sugar refining sector as of 2007.
In April
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, Vir's shares began to be listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange. The sugar factory will soon become the largest sugar refinery, which in
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
had a 37% market share.
Viro će nastaviti rasti iznad prosjeka tržišta
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On May 2, 2020, although it was the most technologically advanced sugar factory in Croatia, although Virovitica was promoted as a “sweet city”, Viro will no longer produce sugar from sugar beet and will not be this year's sugar beet campaign due to “business rationalization”. There remains very little questionable possibility of sugar cane processing, the so-called “yellow campaign”. Most workers will be laid off by management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
on severance pay (or minimum wage until the end of the year, with questionable status thereafter[()]
''Željko Zadro: Virovitička šećerana se ne gasi, budućnost vidimo u preradi sirovog šećera i proizvodnji biološke šećerne repe''
Informativni centar Virovitica. 4. svibnja 2020. Pristupljeno 6. svibnja 2020.) or will retire if they have the conditions.
See also
* List of companies of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
References
External links
*
{{CROBEX companies
Food and drink companies of Croatia
Food and drink companies established in 2002
Companies listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange
Sugar companies
Croatian brands
Agriculture companies of Croatia
Croatian companies established in 2002
Agriculture companies established in 2002