Slovenia's Petrol net profit declines 40% y/y in Q1

The Petrol Group sales revenue fell 19% to 1.472 billion euro in the January-March period due to the lower prices of energy on spot and futures markets, it said in a bourse filing.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by an annual 17% to 49.2 million euro in the first three months of 2024, the company said.

The positive results in the field of merchandise and energy solution sales together with significantly lower operating costs did not fully make up for the losses resulting from the energy price regulation that sets the maximum permitted margin per litre of diesel at 0.0783 euro and of unleaded petrol at 0.0794 euro, Petrol noted.

"At the Petrol Group, we believe that the current margin policy is a measure that has no scientific basis and is unnecessary and harmful for the company; it does not allow for profitable operations in the field of fuel supply and inhibits competition and possibilities for making investments, and makes borrowing more expensive," president Saso Berger said.

The energy group's net investments went down to 16.2 million euro in the three-month period from 18.3 million euro a year earlier.

In 2024, Petrol's supervisory board approved the business plan for 2024, targeting a net profit of 156.5 million euro in 2024 on revenue of 5.8 billion billion euro.

($ = 0.9224 euro)