Operating profit of the Koper-based company was up 48% year-on-year to EUR 9.3m, which is 19% above plans.

Cargo transshipment of the Luka Koper group in the first quarter amounted to 4.9 million tonnes, which is 9% more than in the same period last year and 7% above plans. Transshipment was up in all categories.

Operating revenues in the quarter reached EUR 39.9m, up 8% year on year and 5% more than planned. Operating expenses were meanwhile flat, and financial expenses amounted to EUR 1m, 7% less than in the first quarter of 2013.

Outgoing Luka Koper CEO Andraž Novak said that the company is doing well and that projections for the first half suggest that the company should meet the plans or even exceed them.

In the first half of 2013, Luka Koper posted a net profit of EUR 7.3m and revenues in the amount of EUR 73.2m.

The supervisors of Luka Koper on Friday also appointed Drago Matič the new CEO of the country's sole commercial port operator. The former executive director of Luka Koper, who succeeds the controversial Gašpar Gašpar Mišič, is the fourth boss of the Koper-based company in less than a year.