March 13 (SeeNews) - Slovenian steel group Slovenska Industrija Jekla (SIJ) has recorded an 18.8 million euro ($20.5 million) consolidated loss in 2023, driven by high energy costs, it said.
SIJ generated 1 billion euro in sales revenue, down 23.1% on annual basis, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled 73.3 million euro, SIJ said in a statement on Monday without providing comparative figures.
"The business results of the SIJ Group for 2023 show the challenges we have overcome in the business environment, marked by changes in demand for steel, increased costs of energy products and one-off extraordinary events," Andrey Zubitskiy said.
SIJ allocated 62.1 million euro for investments carried out according to the principles of the best available technology (BAT), while net financial debt remained unchanged as in the previous year.
"We look forward to 2024 with moderate optimism. Production capacities in the segment of standard steel are relatively well occupied for several months in advance, in the segment of special steels we have secured orders for the first half of 2024," Zubitskiy noted.
SIJ booked a consolidated net profit of 95.4 million euro ($104.8 million) in 2022, up from 29.2 million euro in the previous year, while EBITDA went up to 179.9 million euro from 100.8 million euro.
The SIJ Group is the largest vertically integrated metallurgical group in Slovenia, occupying with its products leading positions on European and global niche steel markets.
($ = 0.9155 euro)