Atlantic Grupa, the Croatia-based food and drinks manufacturer, has agreed to sell its Montana Plus sandwich operations to local businessman Marko Gross.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
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In a statement, the Zagreb Stock Exchange-listed company said the sale is in line with its strategy to focus on the “development of key product categories and the disinvestment of non-core” businesses.
“As part of this process, that has been ongoing since 2018, sports and baby food, nutritional supplements and cosmetics business[es] have been disinvested,” Atlantic Grupa added.
In 2020, the company sold its Bebi baby-food brand to Nelt Grupa in Serbia.
And in 2019, Atlantic Grupa let go of the sports nutrition and functional food arm, including the Multipower, Champ and Multaben brands. They were sold to Germany’s Genuport.
The sandwich deal struck with Mr Gross includes the Montana brand, assets and all the employees.
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By GlobalDataMontana Plus produces and distributes so-called triangle sandwiches and extended-shelf-life sandwiches.
According to its website, the sandwich maker employs 32 people, and its products are available at around 1,000 retail outlets in Croatia.
Atlantic Grupa, which has owned Montana Plus since 1998, said that post deal the company has entered an agreement with Mr Gross for the sale and distribution of sandwiches.
Atlantic Grupa said his “extensive experience in the marketing, sales and production segment serves as an excellent basis for further strategic development and stronger expansion of the Montana brand portfolio, improvement of the position in the on-the-go category, and thus the development of the entire category”.
Headquartered in Zagreb, Atlantic Grupa’s portfolio also includes snack brands such as Smoki, Najlepše Zelje, and Bananica, along with the savoury spread brand Argeta.
In drinks, it includes the Grand Kafa and Barcaffe coffee brands, as well as Cockta and Cedevita in soft beverages. The group also owns the natural mineral water line Donat.
Apart from Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia, Atlantic Grupa distributes its products in Austria, North Macedonia and Russia.
In the first quarter of 2025, the company achieved sales of €259.9m ($301.8m), marking a 9.8% increase from the same timeframe in the previous year.
However, EBITDA fell 8.7% to €23m, while EBIT dropped 29% to €10.3m.
Similarly, net profit decreased by 38.4% to €6.1m.
In the food segment, sales of savoury spreads rose by 19.5% to €42.7m, while snacks saw an increase of 2.1% to €31m.
For the 2024 financial year, Atlantic Grupa reported sales of €1.08bn (+10.9%), EBITDA of €97m (+12%) and EBIT of €45.8m (+2.5%). Net profit, however, dropped 15.2% to €26.5m.
