After a record year in 2022, the largest chain of marinas in the Mediterranean and a regional leader in nautical tourism, ACI d.d., continued its positive growth trend in the first quarter of 2023, which indicates that this year, the 40th overall in the company’s history, will be very successful.
In the first quarter, ACI d.d. achieved 5 million euros in sales revenue, which is 11 percent or 510 thousand euros more compared to the same period in 2022. The most significant increase in revenue is recorded for the annual connection service. As a result of continuous investments in the quality of infrastructure and supply, an additional 930 thousand euros were invested in the system in this period as well, and the physical indicators in the marinas also recorded a growth of 5 percent.
‘This year, in which we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Company, for ACI d.d. represents a turning point in business through the expected implementation of significant projects. Thus, among other things, we expect that the construction project of the ACI marina Rijeka will enter the next phase of implementation, that is, that the conditions for signing the concession contract and the start of the construction of the new marina will be met within a short period of time. Due to the entry of the Republic of Croatia into the Schengen area and the Eurozone, we expect an increase in demand for our services, especially during the main nautical season, for which we are actively preparing. Most of the Company’s key goals are based on the assumption of extending the duration of the concession contracts for the entire ACI system, which is also a project that is being intensively implemented’, the President of the Management Board of ACI d.d. Kristijan Pavić, stated.
Given that the first quarter is basically a period of preparation for the season, special attention is paid to further increasing the satisfaction of clients and business partners, which is also the primary goal of ACI d.d.. Thus, continuous investments in infrastructure and accompanying targeted content continued in this period as well. The most significant investments out of a total of 0.9 million euros refer to the execution of works on the anchor system in the Palmižana marina and make up 75 percent of the total investments, followed by works on the road entrance to the ACI marina in Vodice and other investments aimed at refining and raising standards and quality.
In addition, the Company recorded a growth of 5 percent in physical indicators compared to the first quarter of the previous year, primarily due to the influence of physical indicators of the annual connection with a participation of 92 percent in the total increase. The number of boat days on the daily connection increased by 8 percent, while the number of boat days on the permanent connection increased by 5 percent.
The physical indicators in meter days are also similar, which at the system level also recorded a growth of 5 percent, and based on the presented physical indicators, it follows that the average length of vessels at berth in ACI marinas is 11.48 meters. On March 31, 2023, 3,508 vessels were registered in marinas on their annual berth, which is 174 vessels more than on the same day of the comparative year, when there were 3,334.