Borovo Management Board president Gordana Odor recalled that Borovo, then called Bata, was built in Borovo, on the outskirts of Vukovar, by Czech industrialist Tomaš Bata, on 7 June 1931.
"We all know that Tomaš Bata was a visionary and did a lot for this area," Odor said, adding that over the past 90 years the company had had its ups and downs, and that production was restored after the Homeland War in 1998.
"We faced major unresolved property-related problems and war damage amounting to HRK 2.3 billion," she said, adding that the company today employed 600 workers, of whom 400 worked in production and 200 in 74 Borovo retail shops.
She recalled that the company's best days were in the period from 1947 to the late 1980s, when Borovo made 23 million pairs of shoes a year and employed 22,000 workers in Vukovar alone.
"We now make 400,000 pairs of shoes annually and when the numbers started to grow further, the coronavirus pandemic started and we had to cut fixed costs. Had it not been for state aid, we would have probably declared bankruptcy," said Odor.
Economy Ministry official Zvonimir Novak said that the company was in the process of restructuring and that it was up to its management to make a restructuring plan that would be viable in the long run.
"We hope the restructuring plan would be good enough to attract a good, reliable and responsible strategic partner because as much as the state wants to help Borovo, it has to do it in line with rules set by the EU," said Novak.