BORČA RETAIL MARKET REPORT

Serbia – Economy

In recent years, Serbia has seen an increasingly swift foreign direct investment trend, including auto industry ( Fiat ), metal processing ( US Steel ), building materials (Lafarge ), food and beverages ( Carlsberg, Coca Cola and Nestle), textiles (Golden Lady, Pompea), leather (Progetti Company, Falc East), and ICT ) Microsoft and Siemens). By countries, most cash investments in the 2000–2012 period came from Austria ($2.68 billion), Greece ($1.62 billion),Norway ($1.55 billion),Germany ($1.30 billion) and Italy ($0.95 billion), while major investor countries also include Slovenia, Netherlands, Russia and France. The actual amount of investments from countries such as the US and Israel is significantly higher than the official figure due to their companies investing primarily through European affiliates.

The average growth of Serbia's GDP in the last ten years was 4.45% per year. GDP structure by sector in 2012 was: services 63.8%, industry 23.5%, agriculture 12.7%.GDP structure by components in 2011 was: private consumption 74.3%, public consumption 20.6%, investments 28.6%, exports 30,7%, imports 54,2%

Based on the already registered positive trends in the Serbian economy and assuming that, despite the recent slowdown in external demand and in Serbia‟ s main trade partners, Germany and Italy, exports will continue to be a driver of economic growth in the forecast period it is expected that the economy of Serbia will grow by 2.0% in 2014. In the forecast period, exports will be more and more supported by investment and private consumption as growth drivers.

The accession of Serbia to the European Union is the process of the Republic of Serbia being admitted into the framework of the European Union as a full-fledged member state. Serbia officially applied for European Union membership on 22 December 2009, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate on 12 October 2011. After the vote of the 27 EU foreign ministers on 28 February 2012, where with 26 votes for and 1 vote against, a candidate status recommendation was issued, and Serbia received full candidate status on 1 March. On 28 June 2013 the European Council endorsed the Council of Ministers conclusions and recommendations to open accession negotiations with Serbia.

During to recent visit to Serbia in Febriary 2014, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has stated that his country will support the reforms that Serbia needs to implement and that he expects Serbia to join European union in next 4-6 years.

Belgrade

Belgrade is the financial center of Serbia and Southeast Europe with total 17.000.000 m² office space, and is home to the country's central bank. Currently, over 600,000 people are employed in 120.286 companies, 22,600 enterprises and 50,000 shops.

With 6,924 companies in the sector (2013 data), Belgrade is one of information technology centers in this part of Europe, with strong growth. Microsoft Development Center located in Belgrade was at the time of its establishment fifth such center in the world. Many world IT companies choose Belgrade as regional or European center such as Asus, Intel, Dell, Huawei, NCR etc.

New Belgrade is the main business district in the country. It offers a range of facilities such as hotels, congress halls (Sava Centar), class A and class B office buildings, sporting facilities (Belgrade Arena), shopping malls (Ušće and Delta City) and business parks (Airport City Belgrade).

The Belgrade Stock Exchange is also located in New Belgrade. Currently, over 1.2 million square meters of land is under construction in New Belgrade and the estimated value of construction in the next two and half years is over 1.5 billion Euros.

Serbia overcame the problems of inflation in the mid-1990s, and Belgrade has been growing strongly ever since. As of 2009, over 40% of Serbia's GDP is generated by the city, which also has 31.4% of Serbia's employed population. The city of Belgrade's 2012 nominal GDP is estimated at 1,341 billion RSD (about 16 billion USD), which amounts to 806,000 RSD ($9,500) per capita. In September 2013, the average monthly net salary in Belgrade was 53,564 RSD ($635), while gross salary was 73,970 RSD ($877). In the annual Economist Intelligence Unit survey in 2013, Belgrade ranked 86th most expensive among 131 world cities.

Borča

Borča is located just 8 kilometers north of the downtown Belgrade, in the Banat section of the municipality of Palilula. It stretches between the Zrenjaninski put road (which connects Belgrade to the town of Zrenjanin in Vojvodina) and the slow streams of Pretok, Sebeš and Vizelj, which flows through the middle of the marshy area of Pančevački Rit, the northern part of the municipality of Palilula.

Borča has a very good traffic connection with Belgrade thanks to Pančevaćki bridge. The second bridge which is under construction is planned to be completed by December 27 2014. With this bridge Borča will be just 5 minutes drive distance from Zemun and or 10 minutes to Novi Belgrade. This bridge is around 1,500m long and 30m wide, with six traffic lanes, as well as the pedestrian and biking tracks on both sides. The connecting roads will tie it to the regional motorways to Zrenjanin and Pancevo, so it will form the so-called “northern tangent” in Belgrade.

As a part of Palilula Municipality ( population of 170.593 ) together with 16 other municipalities it constitutes city of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

As one of the largest suburbs of Belgrade and a large settlement in its own right, Borča developed several sub-neighborhoods of its own. Officially, Borča is divided into three "local communities", sub-municipal administrative units: Stara Borča, Borča Greda and Nova Borča

There is a very well developed infrastructure, as well as possibility of using all three transport options (River, Railway and Road).

Borča Municipality Location

Existing Retail Stock

The retail market in Borča is in the very early phases of development.

Currently there are no shopping centers or retail park format schemes in the town.

Most retailers are located on Zrenjaninski put, the main road which connects Belgrada and Zrenjanin.

There is no pedestrian nor high street areas.

The map demonstrates that penetration from international retailers is limited to Metro. On the way to Pančevo there is Pevec store which is closed.

Located on the main road entering Borča from Belgrade is Toyota, Porsche and Autocommerce car dealership.

Other retailers present in Borča: Aksa, Tref Sport, Win Win, Tehnomanija, Djak Sport, Gorenje, furniture stores, local floor covering and home design brands.

Stand Alone Retail

Metro is located on the main road entering Borča from Belgrade.

Aksa is located on the main road entering Borča from Belgrade, opposite to Metro. This is the biggest Aksa store in the country.

Idea supermarket ( under construction ) is located in Zrenjaninski street.

Maxi supermarket is located in Milana Toplice street, in the middle of residential area.

Metro Aksa

Idea supermarket ( under construction ) Maxi supermarket