The state-owned passport producer earned 16 million euros in 2024, a rate of 44%.

2025-09-16 08:14:00, Ekonomi CNA

The state-owned passport producer earned 16 million euros in 2024, a rate of

The state-owned ID card and passport production company, IdentiTek, which has continued the activities of the concessionaire "Aleat", has reported revenues of almost 3.7 billion lek in 2024, according to financial statements submitted to the National Business Center.

Compared to the same period a year ago, when the company was only active in the second half of the year, revenues have doubled.

The company, like its successor, “Aleat”, has continued the “tradition” of high profit margins and an activity that has a guaranteed return. Profit before taxes was 1.63 billion lek, or about 16 million euros. The profit margin was 44%, much higher than the economy average, which does not exceed 10%, according to other INSTAT data.

Until July 2023, the production of passports and identity cards was carried out through the concession for the production of biometric passports and identity cards. This concession was signed in 2008, with partners such as IDEMIA SA (France), which operated through the company “ALEAT”.

During its operation, ALEAT has achieved high profit margins. For example, in 2022, the last year of full operation, ALEAT recorded revenues of 5.5 billion lek, and profits of 1.7 billion lek, with a profit margin of 31%. In 2021, which is also the year with the highest result, revenues were 6.5 billion lek and profits were 2.6 billion lek, with a margin of about 40%, which still remains slightly lower than that of the state-owned operator. ALEAT achieved an annual turnover of over 404 million euros in turnover and about 110 million euros in net profits during a decade of operation, according to balance sheet data.

Albanian citizens already have the highest costs in the region for obtaining passports and identity cards. In Albania, to obtain a biometric passport, one must pay 7,500 lek, or about 75 euros. With an expedited deadline, for 2-3 days, the fee increases to 18,000 lek (about 180 euros).

In Kosovo, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the fee for a biometric passport is 30 euros for people over 18 and 15 euros for pensioners. For an expedited procedure (within 72 hours) an additional 5 euros are added. For children, the cost is 20 euros (for 5 years).

In Montenegro, a normal biometric passport costs 40 euros. In North Macedonia, the cost is around 40 euros. Even in Serbia and Montenegro, the fee does not exceed 40 euros.

In the EU, biometric passport fees typically range from 30–40 euros in Eastern/Central European countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia) to 60–90 euros in Western European countries (e.g. France ~86 euros, Germany ~70 euros, Italy ~73 euros). Some countries have even higher fees (e.g. Switzerland over 140 CHF ≈ €145).

The European average is around 70–80 euros, significantly higher than the Western Balkan countries, where prices are between 30–40 euros, except for Albania, which is much closer to the EU average./ Monitor