Slovenia’s Petrol Sees 2009 Net Sales Down 10% on Lower Oil Prices

At the same time, the global financial crisis will most probably put Petrol’s investment plans on hold, the company said in a filing to the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE).

Petrol plans to sell 2.3 million tonnes of petroleum products in 2009, up 5.0% from the 2008 estimate, and 119,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas and industrial gases, or 3.0% more than this year’s estimate. The company expects its 2009 sales of supplementary merchandise to rise 10% from the 2008 estimate to 408.3 million euro.

Petrol plans to expand its retail network in Slovenia and abroad to 444 service stations next year from 417 it had at the end of September, when it had 310 stations in Slovenia, 39 in Bosnia, 63 in Croatia, three in Serbia and two in Kosovo.

“The Petrol Group will continue in 2009 its strategy of consolidating its leading position in the domestic market while expanding its business activities in Southeast Europe markets,” the statement said.

“In the light of the worsening financial situation, even more attention will have to be given to this issue in the coming year. Owing to a more difficult access to long-term sources, the Petrol Group will reassess the economic feasibility of all new investment decisions and might even wait for a more appropriate time to invest,” Petrol said.

Petrol reported earlier a 9.0% fall in its group net profit to 42.2 million euro in the first nine months of 2008.

Petrol's shares rose 1.49% to an average price of 251.70 euro on the LJSE on Friday.

($ = 0.7011 euro)