UPDATE 1 - Slovenia’s Gorenje turns to 9-mo cons loss, set to end 2012 in black

Nine-month consolidated revenue dropped 12.3% to 929.5 million euro, the company said in a bourse filing.

Gorenje's third-quarter performance was marked by poor sales in July and August, when regular annual repairs and overhauls are carried out at production locations of the group. Stagnation of sales was recorded on some Western and Eastern European markets that are very important for the company like the Netherlands, France, Slovenia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In the middle of the third quarter, Gorenje stepped up its efforts regarding some cost-cutting measures and posted solid sales in September which were higher than the average consolidated group revenue in the first eight months of the year, topping August results by 21.5%. The company said it has extended the momentum of September's positive trend into the last quarter of the year, a period for which considerable orders have been booked from countries where the group's profitability is higher.

The pick-up in operations in the third quarter coupled with the strong sales expected in the last months of the year and solid cost management should allow Gorenje to end the year with a profit, Gorenje president and CEO Franjo Bobinac said.

Investment spending at group level amounted to 33 million euro through September.

($=0.784 euro)