Negative profit warning. Maybe a paywall.
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The company’s revenue and earnings are expected to improve from the previous half-year… then a profit warning 
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Afarak has been shopping. Magnesite mines caught in the net.
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…and let me guess, there’s some company owned by Danco behind the seller. And guess #2: the mines in question have been valued at x euros, but in reality they are only a fraction of that, and once again the money has been funneled to the crook.
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Was there a stock exchange release about this? It can’t be found on AFA’s website.
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Perhaps because the announcement was already issued back in 2018.
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Afarak timed its profit warning to the closing auction: TULOSVAROITUS – LIIKEVAIHDON JA KÄYTTÖKATTEEN LASKU | Kauppalehti
The Board of Directors of Afarak Group SE (“the Company”) estimates that the full-year 2024 EBITDA will be approximately EUR 2.6 million, representing an 85% decrease compared to 2023.
Additionally, for the full year 2024, revenue is expected to be approximately EUR 128.6 million, representing a 16.3% decrease.
In the H1 2024 half-year report, published on August 16, 2024, the Company presented the following expectations – we want to provide our shareholders with an update on these:
OUTLOOK FOR THE SECOND HALF OF 2024
On the low-carbon ferrochrome side, sanctions on Russian material will only be fully implemented by the end of 2024. Growing demand from the aerospace and defense industries should start to have some positive balancing effect on supply and demand levels. China’s domestic price level also appears to have bottomed out. We expect our cost structure to continue to improve during the second half of the year and we continue to develop new revenue streams in Europe. Continuous competition will persist in the low-carbon ferrochrome market throughout the year.
Update:
2024 was a weak year for the stainless steel industry, and signs suggest that 2025 may also be challenging.
During 2024, demand for stainless steel, especially in Germany, remained low, and the entire European market was subdued.
On the manufacturing side, we succeeded in continuing to reduce our production costs. We can generally confirm that demand for low-carbon special grades used in specialty products has increased, and market prices have shown an upward trend. In contrast, the price situation for standard grades, particularly due to imports circulating from Russia through various countries, has strongly affected our margins in that segment.
The chrome ore markets, however, are expected to remain strong. We have finalized investment decisions that will allow us to rapidly increase chrome ore concentrate production in South Africa.
Update: In the third and especially the fourth quarter, chrome ore prices unexpectedly and significantly decreased due to the weak economic situation in China. However, since mid-January, this trend has reversed, and the market outlook for chrome ore is again more positive.
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Deciding on the use of the profit shown on the balance sheet and the payment of dividends, and authorizing the Board of Directors to decide on the distribution of dividends and the distribution of funds from the invested unrestricted equity reserve
The company has reported weaker results, reflecting the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty caused by global market instability. Under these circumstances, it is prudent to monitor developments closely.
In accordance with the company’s dividend policy, the target dividend payout ratio for each financial year is at least ten percent of Afarak Group’s full-year EBITDA.
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that, based on the balance sheet to be adopted for the financial year ended December 31, 2024, no dividend be distributed by a resolution of the Annual General Meeting, but that the Board of Directors be authorized to decide on the distribution of a total maximum of EUR 0.005 per share as a dividend from retained earnings and/or as funds from the invested unrestricted equity reserve. The authorization would be valid until December 31, 2025. The Board of Directors would make separate decisions on the amount and timing of the distribution of dividends and/or funds from the invested unrestricted equity reserve. The company will separately announce each such decision by the Board of Directors.
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The news is quite old, but let’s keep this quiet thread alive 
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Looks quite nice. I guessed there would be upward pressure on the stock price.
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According to this story, Danko now only owns an old Mercedes. Everything has been transferred to the children.
However, Danko Končar entered the Croatian business scene much later than the two previous families, only after 2000. His biography has always been accompanied by controversies stemming from his imprisonment during the socialist era at the Jugoturbina company, where he continued to work even after his release. He acquired his first capital, as he revealed to us in an interview, in the late 1980s while working in Zagreb for Gold Star, now LG.
His business path, he said at the time, was full of ups and downs, and he rose financially through jobs in the mining industry and the purchase of two Russian chrome ore processing plants. Later, he transferred his investments to South Africa, and because of the mines located there, he was called the “Chrome King.” Only after that did he start doing business in Croatia. He first started in the real estate market, mainly in Istria, then in shipbuilding, metal industry, tourism, energy, and finally in wine production and even agriculture. It is true that he recently gave up the latter, the renovation of the Buzet gene center and pig farming, and sold the neglected complex, but it is hardly known that he does not actually own his “business empire.”
Distribution by kinship
“In my case, it’s already a settled matter. My wife and I transferred ownership to our children 15 years ago. Except for Nenad, all the others were in London, and since inheritance taxes there are enormous, 40%, and Brexit was already looming, we didn’t want anything more complicated and decided it was better to carry out the transfer as soon as possible,” says Končar, now 83.
The distribution, he continues, was resolved so that everyone received something, according to their family ties. Nenad, who is most visible in the Croatian media, mainly due to Brodotrogir and Adriadiesel, took over the sector, namely the company Jadranska ulaganja. Daughters Simona and Lena were interested in the tourism part of the portfolio, so the former took over LMS and the latter LNS Investments. Končar’s other son, Ljubomir, lives in London.
“I am actually only the owner of one old car, a Mercedes, in fact,” laughs Končar, whose elderly four-wheeled pet is 30 years old. He also got rid of his private jet, where, as he once said, he spent most of his days. He had his own Learjet, but eventually decided to sell it.
“Pleasure is expensive. For a while, it means something to you, but when you indulge yourself, you realize it’s a million-euro expense and you could use it better,” says Končar.
He says he has never understood the title “Chrome King,” with which he has been crowned in the media since his arrival in Croatia, because he does not consider himself a king. Business in Croatia and real estate investments have also not gone smoothly, especially privatization projects, which were bought as losers and required large investments.
“But things are progressing slowly. Nenad is doing better; it took him time to get all the strings in order; all the companies he bought were ‘sick,’ and he didn’t have an easy task.” Now it’s stable, the Trogir shipyard has work to do, Karlovac’s Adriadiesel is still tying up loose ends, but all in all, it has gotten back on its feet, and I am satisfied,” says Danko Končar.
He is also satisfied with the progress of the work in his daughters’ portfolio, and some of these are the reason why he has been difficult to reach for a longer conversation in recent days, as he has been rushing from one meeting to another. From the “Capo” winery near Brtonigla, which, according to him, produces excellent wines, to the Heritage&Resort Hotel Monument in Pula, which received a five-star rating last week and is preparing to welcome its first guests.
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Would this help the company? Imports are being restricted, and one would think chromium products would sell. Who owns Danko’s shares, and have they also been transferred within the reach of enforcement?
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I don’t believe these fines will be paid
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A Christmas gift from Afarak to its shareholders.
The Company’s Board of Directors has today decided to distribute a capital repayment of EUR 0.005 per share. The decision is based on the authorization given to the Board by the Annual General Meeting held on June 3, 2025.
The capital repayment will be paid to shareholders who, on the record date of February 13, 2026, are registered in the Company’s shareholder register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy.
The capital repayment will be paid on February 20, 2026. The payment date outside Finland is determined according to the practices of the banks mediating the capital repayments.
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He doesn’t necessarily even have the money to pay, as he transferred his assets to his children ages ago. Even the information disclosure offense managed to expire due to the authorities dragging their feet, as it needs to be finalized within 10 years. The guy is already over 80, so soon he will be practically beyond the reach of the law anyway. Compliance with securities laws is based on the owner’s presence in Finland. If the owner lives abroad, the laws practically don’t apply to them. That is why companies owned by foreigners should be treated with suspicion.
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Jorma believes in the company’s performance and let’s hope for a turnaround in this mining company as well.
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Nieminen still has plenty of faith in Afarak, which shares the same auditor as Tecnotree—a company that has also been the subject of related-party speculation and whose shares Nieminen has also been loading up on. In the case of Afarak, I believe a special audit was conducted to investigate whether company assets had leaked to Končar’s related parties. The conclusion seemed to be that they hadn’t.
Sometime during the early days of my stock-picking hobby, I remember buying shares in this company because it was cheap on a P/E basis. Naturally, I didn’t realize I should dig into the reason for that cheapness, and I had to learn the hard way. Now, it feels like the greatest potential for returns lies in the fact that the already elderly Končar will eventually pass away.
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That was quite a price surge for today. Maybe tomorrow will be more moderate..