Anthura is a Dutch company producing flower seeds and roots– more specifically for orchids and decoration flowers.
According to the website of the company, the production process in Macedonia started in October 2014 once the company received a state aid back in March 2014. The amount is not disclosed and is not included in the of the Commission for Protection of the Competition, but it is still published in the Official Gazette and includes the following:
- Exemption from personal income tax for period of 10 years;
- Exemption from corporate income tax for period of 10 years;
- Awarding of grant for opening of new jobs in the total amount of 300,000 euros (three hundred thousand EUR) in denars equivalent, as a support for implementation of the investment project for construction or leasing of buildings, facilities and premises for production of seedling materials intended for multiplication of flowers (orchids) in laboratory i.e. in sterile conditions, and other products in this industry in the zone in Kochani – a site called ‘Vinichka Vada’.
Seven months after the start of the production process, Anthura was officially opened on 6 May 2015.
Officially it was announced that 150 people would be employed and that the investment would be six million euros.
As it was stipulated by the Minister for Foreign Investments, Mr.Vele Samak: “In the last two years the government assisted the Dutch company in getting the best conditions and locations for starting of business in Kochani“.
The Municipality of Kochani alone invested almost 100,000 euros in the infrastructure around the factory.
“We built water supply and sewage network, pedestrian walks, street lighting, complete infrastructural arrangement of this area – with a total investment of almost six million denars”, said the mayor of Kochani, Mr.Ratko Dimitriovski.
During the official opening of the factory it was announced that additional investments are planned and employment of 300 to 400 people.
At the end of 2015, Anthura employed 163 persons in Kochani and according to the Annual Financial Statement it has noncurrent assets in the total amount of 6 million euros.
The number of employees was increased to 278 at the end of 2016.
As soon as the BIRN database was published there was a reaction by Anthura company saying they were never beneficiary of any state aid. When developing the database, the BIRN criterion for state aid is based on Resolutions adopted by the government (in this case Resolution No. 10-157, page 27) included in the Report of the Commission for Protection of Competition and on the facts published in the Official Gazette (page 147).