Croatian food group Podravka is to invest in increasing its processing capacity for tomatoes in its home market.

The company is building a new facility at its existing Kalnik site in Varaždin.

The Vegeta brand owner’s aim with the move is to increase its primary processing capacity for fresh tomatoes.

Podravka is spending €13m ($14.1m) on the project, which is expected to be completed this summer.

In 2023, the group generated revenue of €713.8m, up 7% on a year earlier. Revenues from the food division were up 6% at €553.6m, Podravka, which also interests in the pharma sector, said.

EBITDA fell 2% to €91.9m amid rising input costs. The food division reported a 15% drop in EBITDA to €9.3m.

Group net profit after minority interests was 35.3% higher at €66.4m.

Podravka’s portfolio includes a variety of food brands such as Vegeta, Lino or Eva. It’s already present in tomato production with tinned pureed, peeled, chopped tomato and passata under the Podravka brand name.

In March last year, the two Croatia-based food majors Atlantic Grupa and Podravka, struck a deal to work together on improving their business in export markets.

The publicly-listed companies said their “mutual export support” would focus on the US and Austria.