2.8 MEUR - Gorenje - Gorenje Group

Events After Year-End
The 17th Shareholders’ Meeting of Gorenje, d.d. was held
on 3 February 2012. The key item of the Agenda was the
proposal of the Management Board and the Supervisory
Board that an authorisation be granted to the Management
Board to acquire and dispose of treasury shares,
up to a total of 10 percent of the Company’s share
capital. Kapitalska družba, d.d., the major shareholder
of Gorenje, proposed a counterproposal to this item,
which differed from the proposal made by the Management
Board and the Supervisory Board, in that the
pre-emptive right of the existing shareholders should
not be omitted in case of disposal of treasury shares. The
Management Board and the Supervisory Board agreed
with the counterproposal made by Kapitalska družba.
The Capital Assets Management Agency of the Republic
of Slovenia, which exercised voting rights on behalf of
Kapitalska družba, voted against the counterproposal.
The proposal was thus rejected with 50.7 percent majority
of all present at the Shareholders’ Meeting.
On 14 February 2012, Gorenje signed in Valjevo a
Memorandum of Understanding that lays down the
starting points for cooperation and the obligations to
be assumed by the Republic of Serbia and Gorenje in
case of a decision to expand the Valjevo refrigerator
freezer manufacturing plant, as currently deliberated
by Gorenje. The Memorandum is not a legally binding
document and the decision to proceed with the investment
project is yet to be confirmed by the corporate
bodies of Gorenje and relevant bodies of the Republic
of Serbia. Pursuant to the starting points specified in
the Memorandum, Serbia would support Gorenje’s
The Management Board of the company Gorenje, d.d.
new investment in Valjevo by grants and subsidies in
the total amount of EUR 5 to 7 mio; Gorenje would,
in turn, create 400 new jobs at the extended Valjevo
plant by the end of 2015. The value of the investment
in expansion of the Valjevo manufacturing plant is
estimated at approximately EUR 20 mio.
By September 2012, the Gorenje Group plans to move
its cooker manufacturing facilities from Lahti, Finland, to
Mora Moravia, Czech Republic, where its cooking appliances
are manufactured. The Finnish production plant,
which is scheduled to discontinue its operations by
July 2012, was acquired by the Gorenje Group upon its
acquisition of the Scandinavian Asko Group. Moving the
production from Finland to the Czech Republic is part
of the production restructuring process of the Gorenje
Group, which aims at implementing the goals set in the
2012-2015 strategic plan. The previous year’s volume
of production of the plant stood at 53,000 cookers.
The plant currently employs 106 staff. The production
relocation process is to be completed by September
2012, when the production of cookers will be continued
in the Gorenje’s plant in Mora Moravia. Based on
this measure, Gorenje will optimise its production costs
at the Group’s level and enhance its competitiveness.
The Gorenje Group festively opened a new plant for
sanitary equipment production and washing machine
assembly in Zaječar on 5 March 2012. The plant has
successfully operated since autumn 2011 and employs
96 staff. By the end of the current year, 70,000 washing
machines and 30,000 wash basins from this plant will
ANNUAL REPORT 2011
be put on the market. The Government of the Republic
of Serbia will support Gorenje’s investment with a subsidy
intended to fund the creation of new jobs. Gorenje
also has a plant in Valjevo manufacturing refrigerators
and freezers, a plant in Stara Pazova manufacturing
water heaters, a selling company in Belgrade, and a
network of own exhibition of sale centres employing
more than 1,100 persons.
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