November 20 (SeeNews) - Slovenian fuel retailer Petrol [LJE:PETG] said on Friday its consolidated net profit rose 6% to 48.5 million euro ($52 million) in the first nine months of 2015.
Consolidated net sales revenues dropped 4% to 2.84 billion euro through September, Petrol said in a bourse filing.
"Although Slovenia, which is still Petrol's core sales market, returned to growth recently, the economic situation remains very demanding. In addition, the business operations of oil retailers in Slovenia were adversely affected by the selling prices of petroleum products, which were mostly higher than in the neighbouring countries. Moreover, Croatia and other SE Europe countries which are considered Petrol's sales markets still face extremely tough economic conditions, low purchasing power, high unemployment and lack of payment discipline," Petrol said.
The Petrol Group generated 61% of its nine-month cash flow from operating activities before working capital changes through its oil trading activity in Slovenia where it is still faced with demanding economic conditions.
"Sales prices of oil products in Slovenia, mostly higher compared to the neighbouring countries due to high excise duties and other taxes, had negative impact on the Slovenian oil trade," the company said.
In the first nine months of 2015, the company sold 1.1 million t of petroleum products in Slovenia, a year-on-year decrease of 3%.
Petrol Group sold 625,000 t of petroleum products in Southeast Europe (SEE) in the first half of 2015, a year-on-year increase of 13%.
Petrol targets a consolidated net profit of 64.3 million euro on revenues of 3.8 billion euro in 2015.
At the end of September, the Petrol Group operated 482 service stations - up from 479 at the end of 2014.
($=0.932575 euro)
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