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The state-owned electricity producer, Albanian Power Corporation (Alb: KESH), ranks first as the company that generated the most profits for 2018. KESH reported a pre-tax profit of ALL 10 billion, with a significant increase of nearly 20 times compared to the previous year. Increasing sales revenue and lower energy purchase costs due to favorable weather conditions have had a major impact on this positive performance. Operator profit rate was 55% (pre-tax profit / total revenue).
2. BKT
In second place is the National Commercial Bank (Ala: BKT). The pre-tax profit of the largest bank in the country was ALL 8.7 billion (almost the same as the previous year), at a rate of about 19%.
"We closed 2018 with a record profit, while our financial indicators continued to improve," said Mr. Seyhan Pencabligil, CEO & Board Member of National Commercial Bank (BKT).
3. Raiffeisen Bank
Raiffesien Bank, the second largest in the country by assets, ranks third in the list of "Monitor 200 by earnings", second from the previous year. Pre-tax profit was nearly ALL 4 billion, with a contraction of 18% over the previous year. The profit rate was almost 36%. "For 'Raiffeisen Bank', 2018 was a great year, we had a positive trend in loans to businesses and individuals," said Mr. Christian Canacaris, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Albania.
4. Electricity Distribution Operator
The "Electricity Distribution Operator" (Ala: OSHEE) reported profits of ALL 3.2 billion, a decrease of about 10% compared to the previous year, mainly driven by slight revenue contraction. "The year 2018, for OSHEE, is considered normal in terms of its activity, where the company has continued to progress on key indicators, such as Loss of Reduction and Increase in Receipts," said OSHEE Administrator, Adrian Çela. But, he warns that in 2019, as in 2017, the company is facing the same pressure as KESH, due to the severe hydro drought, which results in an increased cost of purchasing energy in the market, risking come up with losses. “The year 2019, according to the forecasts of KESH power generation, is expected to be the first year that OSHEE will face a loss result. The reason is the drastic increase in the cost of energy, which is being bought, for the most part, by imports at very high international market prices,” Cela says.
5. Tirana International Airport
Tirana International Airport (TIA), the company that operates the country's only concession airport, Mother Teresa, has climbed to fourth in the ranking, up from fifth a year ago. The company's pre-tax profit was ALL 3.1 billion, an increase of 11% over the previous year. As expenditures expanded at lower rates than revenue, the profit rate reached 49%, almost half of revenue, up two percentage points from the previous year. The continuous increase in passenger traffic, both by Albanians and foreigners, who are increasingly visiting our country, has affected the airport's positive performance. During 2018, traffic at Rinas Airport hit a record high of 2.95 million passengers, according to data from Tirana International Airport (TIA). Compared to the previous year, the number of passengers has increased by about 12%.
More than a year ago, the Civil Aviation Authority requested an international consulting company to audit TIA's balances, which subsequently found that the company had higher profits than the business plan for the period 2004-2017. (€ 150 million net out of € 66 million that was the original plan), although the results have not yet been published and much less action has been taken following the monitoring of the situation.
6. Gjoka Konstruksion
The construction company, Gjoka Konstruksion, is listed for the first time on the biggest list. The company reported earnings of ALL 2.2 billion, with a strong expansion of 61%. Increasing revenues at higher rates than expenditures has contributed to this positive performance. Pre-tax profit rate reached 33%.
Gjoka Construction ranks fourth among construction companies in terms of revenue in 2018, after "LIMAK INSAAT SANAYI", "Alb-Star" and "Gener 2" and reported an annual turnover of ALL 6.7 billion.
7. Vodafone Albania
Vodafone's largest mobile operator is back in the top 10 rankings. The company's pre-tax profit was ALL 1.7 billion in 2018, after losses of ALL 792 million last year, at a rate of 10.5%.
As revenues rose slightly by 7.4%, keeping costs in check and especially lowering administrative and other impacts improved the company's performance.
8. OST
The Transmission System Operator (Alb: OST) is the second-largest state-owned enterprise on the list of 10 largest. The company reported a 20% increase in profits reaching ALL 1.5 billion. The increasing revenue at higher than expense rates has contributed to improved company profits.
9. Ashta Energy
"Energi Ashta", the operator that has concessionarily built the Ashta hydroelectric power plant, reported high profits of ALL 1.5 billion after losing last year, ranking for the first time among the top 10. Ashta Energy, with an installed power of 48.2 MW, has increased revenues by 60% to ALL 2.3 billion in 2018, following a sharp decline from the previous year. Dietmar Reiner, Executive Director of Ashta Energy, claims that the "power generation for 2018 was 298,106 GWh and for 2019, so far it is 122,138 GWh, which is unfortunately below the statistical average of annual output." He adds that production depends on the region's hydropower flows, whether the weather is cloudy or dry, production is either high, or low, relative to the business plan.
10. Spiecapag Transadriatica
Spiecapag Transadriatica, created in 2016, ranks for the second consecutive year among the top 10. The French company, which works on the TAP pipeline and has expertise in building pipelines on challenging terrain, with challenging profiles and deadlines, reported a profit of nearly ALL 1.48 billion, at a rate of 9.6%. Together with the other subject "Spiecapag Albania", they were in the top 1
The TAP project, the largest investment ever made in Albania, worth € 1.5 billion, is now nearing its end. TAP Manager for Albania, Malfor Nuri, has asserted that in the short term, the forecasts of a number of financial institutions for economic growth in Albania for 2017 and 2018, estimated that the annual growth of the Albanian economy was partly due to TAP's presence. "In 2019, the volume of construction work was lower than in the previous two years, due to the gradual completion of construction work, so the impact on the Albanian economy is expected to be lower," he adds. Bessac, also French, is another TAP subcontractor on the biggest list, ranking 16th with 1 billion leks. He has built the Çorovoda microtunnel.