In the modern Croatian economy, trade has become an extremely important economic activity. All forms of exchange of goods and services are realized through trade, the standard of population is improved and the economy is globalized. Trade activity is characterized by rapid growth and very dynamic changes. It is one of the largest contributors to the creation of gross value added, and therefore it is of utmost importance that it is an activity affected by the negative effects of the global crisis. With the onset of the crisis, trends in trade correlate with developments in total economic activity. This paper seeks to determine more closely whether and how the crisis affected the business and profitability of the trade sector in the Republic of Croatia. The issues in question were analyzed on the example of selected companies in the trade sector. The aim of the paper is to determine how the recession has affected, and what are its consequences on the operations of selected companies in the field of trade. The objective in question was achieved through an analysis of their operations in the years affected by the impact of the global recession, based on the calculation and interpretation of individual financial indicators and the synthetic indicator BEX index.