Economy in Celje

In 2007, 4444 business entities were operating in the Savinjska region, which is 9.1 percent of all Slovenian companies. By number of companies, the majority are business service providers; by other categories (number of employees, revenues, net profit), manufacturing and construction top the list. The total number of employees rose again in 2007. Based on hours worked, the number of employees averaged at 63,614, which is 6 percent more than the year before. Economic strength of the region, measured in terms of generated revenues and value added, remained at approximately the same level as in 2006; net profit was the only category that saw a considerably rise. Economic growth in the wider Celje area or Celje Economic Region (23 municipalities) was somewhat faster; when only the four municipalities of the Celje administrative unit are considered, the performance improved at an even better rate.
Thus, there were 1481 active business entities in the area of Celje Municipality in 2007, which is 166 more than in the year before. In the year at hand, business services have flourished with 433 active companies; hence, their number approached the number of business entities in the trade industry. By size, there were 34 large companies, 22 medium, 75 small, and as many as 1,350 micro enterprises.

In addition to an expansion of business activity, the number of employees based on hours worked also increased. In 2007, it escalated by 10 percent in the Celje Municipality, which translates to 1,800 new jobs. Among Celje's major industries, construction, trade, and business services saw the greatest surge in the number of employees, while employment in water, electricity, and gas supply, and catering, remained unchanged.
In 2007, business entities generated EUR 2,968 million revenues, which is 23.7 percent more than in 2006. High revenue growth was present in most major industries in the Celje Municipality, with only processing industry and catering seeing somewhat more moderate growth (13.4, and 9.1 percent, respectively). Net profit grew faster than the attained rate of revenue growth (by 49.9 percent); however, total combined net loss was also tripled compared to the year before. Losses rose considerable in transport, storage, and communications, education, trade, and catering. The economy seemed to have succeeded in controlling the costs of material and labor; with costs of services and finance, it seems to have been less successful.
This is the result of the fact that business entities predominantly financed the expansion of their operations with bank loans / borrowings, which resulted in an above-average growth of interest rate costs. At the level of the entire economy of the Celje Municipality, however, net finance result was positive; a negative net financial outcome was seen by companies operating in mining, catering, and transport, storage and communications.
On average, each employee created EUR 30,074 of added value, which is 5.3 percent more than in the year before (real growth of 1.6 percent). Despite faster growth of productivity at the level of Savinjska region, the attained value added per employee in the companies of the Celje Municipality remains slightly above the average – by 2.6 percent.

Source: Annual Report 2008, Fit media, December 2008