Ljubljana, 08 March (STA) - Energy group Petrol exceeded its plans last year, generating EUR 5.4bn in revenue. The figure was nearly EUR 1bn above plans and 20% higher than in 2017. Net profit was 13% higher year-on-year at EUR 91.8m, the core company said on Friday. The results were the best in the company's history, according to CEO Tomaž Berločnik.
Operating profit of the group went up by 6% to EUR 119.04m and gross earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached EUR 171.5m, 7% more than in 2017.
The group sold EUR 3.5m tonnes of petroleum products, up 4%. The group generated 50% of its revenue in Slovenia, 28% in the EU and 22% in Southeastern Europe.
At the end of last year, it operated a total of 500 petrol stations, 319 of them in Slovenia (57% of all petrol stations in the country), 107 in Croatia, 40 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 12 in Serbia and 11 in Montenegro and Kosovo.
Sales revenue from merchandise and related services was at EUR 477.5m. The figure was EUR 122.9m lower than the previous year due to new accounting standards, the company said. Were it not for this change, the merchandise revenue would have been 10% higher.
The group moreover sold 19.9 terawatt hours of natural gas, 157,600 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas, 20.3 terawatt hours of electricity and 140,500 megawatt hours of heat.
The group invested EUR 86.6m. Most of the funds went into sales expansion in Slovenia. At the end last year, nearly 4,860 people worked at the group's petrol stations, 33% of them abroad. Compared to a year earlier, the figure was up 8%.