We build business networks and relationships ... - skupina kd group

When we gathered together at the first strategic conference
of Group companies, we were able to establish, without false
modesty, that we have made great strides in all key areas
of operations: the amount of assets in our investment funds
has risen, insurance revenues are up and our investment
activities have strengthened. Internally, the ever increasing
synergy of the Group’s operations can be seen in the
introduction of divisions. Externally, with a uniform corporate
image, the user most directly feels this synergy through the
new brand (and company!) KD Finančna točka, which has
opened the door to an entirely new, never before experienced
complete service: a unique supermarket of financial services
and asset advisory services in one place.
Now let us look in more detail at the bigger picture.
The Group performed extremely well in 2007, as reflected
in the improvement of all key performance indicators. Total
operating revenues were up 25 percent from the previous
year, reaching EUR 455.6 million. Net profit for the year was
EUR 34.9 million, a 67 percent increase from 2006. Total
capital was up 20 percent from the previous year, reaching
EUR 340.3 million. The high growth in net profit was also
evident in our return on equity of 11.2 percent in 2007, a
significant improvement from 2006. The Group is already
present in 12 countries and has nearly 2,000 employees.
More than 120,000 customers have demonstrated their trust
in us.
In the area of asset management, the assets in all
investment funds, including those under private wealth
management, exceeded EUR 1 billion for the first time in
2007. We were extremely successful in this area, as the
majority of funds (17) exceeded established benchmarks.
The oldest Slovenian mutual fund, KD Galileo, celebrated its
15 th anniversary. In Croatia, marketing of a fourth mutual
fund, KD Nova Europa, began, with nearly EUR 1 million
paid into the fund in its first five days of operations. With
the public subscription of units of the KD Ekskluziv fund in
Belgrade, the Group’s 26 th investment fund was born. All of
the Group’s funds are professionally sound and operationally
strong, enabling us to market them outside the countries
in which they were established. We are thus becoming
an important channel to global investments for customers
from the region, and a key expert in financial and business
opportunities in this part of Europe for the rest of the world.
Our plans for the insurance sector are also clearly ambitious.
We have renamed Slovenica Življenje KD Življenje and
consolidated our life insurance products. As the second
largest insurance company in Slovenia, the universal insurer
Adriatic Slovenica also marketed life and property insurance,
including health insurance, in 2007.
The Group also demonstrated its social responsibility in the
insurance sector in 2007, with Adriatic Slovenica putting
forth maximum effort in the hardest hit areas in the Celje
and Gorenjska regions following September’s catastrophic
storms. Policyholders were repaid an enormous amount in
property damages. This however had no significant impact
on the company’s operating results due an appropriate level
of reinsurance. The Group’s market share in the area of life
insurance is growing rapidly. Last year, we improved our
market share to 15 percent, placing third amongst life insurers
at the end of the year. In 2008, we are planning further
growth with the aim of achieving second place amongst life
insurance providers. Our life insurance products are present
abroad in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania
and Bulgaria, with plans to expand to Ukraine and Croatia.
A significant step forward with regard to the sale of financial
services is the aforementioned establishment of KD Finančna
točka, equally owned by the insurer KD Življenje and the asset
management company KD Skladi. It is not just Slovenian
users, with access to more than 80 investment funds,
stockbroking services and private wealth management, who
benefit from this network of financial supermarkets; the Group
also uses it to develop its contemporary marketing know-how,
which it employs to its advantage on all new markets. KD
Finančna točka has also joined the founding companies of our
prestigious service, Club KD Plus.
In addition to more efficient and transparent operations, the
benefits of the Group’s division-based organisation include
the transfer of non-strategic investments to KD Kapital, which
will facilitate improved capital investment management. The
Group is present in a broad range of segments: it manages
a private equity fund; it is active in cinematography and
entertainment and in education and publishing. The activities
of its subsidiaries include the design and manufacture of
watercraft, retail trade, the food industry and others. With the
acquisition of building rights for the Šumi project in the centre
of Ljubljana and the establishment of KD Kvart, the Group’s
real estate division has become increasingly more active.
And what is the Group’s biggest project and my greatest wish
for 2008?
Without a doubt the Group’s entry into the banking sector. In
2007, we brought together a team of experienced banking
experts. The realisation of these plans in 2008 will bring the
KD Holding Group’s range of products and services full circle
- and surely broaden our picture, not merely by a page or two,
but with an entire new chapter. Even as we take this new step
together, we are very conscious of the fact that our growth as
partners is based solely on the values of trust, openness and
equality.
Only in this way can trust grow - and only that growth
stimulates trust.
Matjaž Gantar
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