Ljubljana, 02 June (STA) - The state-run enterprise managing national forests had a successful 2018, increasing revenue by 32% to EUR 76.9 million and net profit by 10% to EUR 11.9 million, while operating profit was down by 16% to EUR 14.2 million.
Slovenian State Forests (SiDG) sold 1.45 million cubic metres of wood last year at an average price of EUR 50.09 per cubic metre, which is 11 cents more than in 2017.
Sales revenue amounted to EUR 72.7 million or 27% more than in the year before, shows the annual report published on the company's website.
Net yield for the state was EUR 26.10 per cubic metre, more than double compared to the concession system that the state used to implement before forming SiDG.
The company spent EUR 6.2 million on investments last year, most of it for its own forest production (EUR 2.1 million), transport (EUR 1.7 million) and forest infrastructure (EUR 1.2 million).
It cut down 1.52 million cubic metres of trees to exceed the plan by 26%, and exceed the quantity from 2017 (EUR 1.14 million).
Last year was marked mostly by the clean-up efforts after strong winds heavily damaged Slovenian forests in December 2017.
The natural disaster damaged more than 60% of the forests owned by the state or 1.5 million cubic metres of timber, which exceeded the planned annual amount of timber to be cut.
The company, which had 239 employees at the end of last year, intends to cut down 1.5 million cubic metres of timber this year, and expects EUR 71.5 million in revenue from the sale of wood and EUR 2.6 million in other revenue.
Net operating profit is expected to reach EUR 13.4 million, while investments are planned to amount to EUR 8 million.
SiDG became operational in 2016 after the state transferred onto it more than 234,000 hectares of state-owned forest, which is 21% of the total forest area in the country.