LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), November 23 (SeeNews) – Slovenian retailer Mercator [LJE:MELR] said on Friday it swung to a consolidated net profit of 8.9 million euro ($10.1 million) in the first nine months of 2018, from a restated net loss of 10.5 million euro in the prior-year period.
Consolidated revenue rose 1.6% on the year to 1.6 billion euro in the nine months through September, while revenue from retail gained 5.4% to 1.2 billion euro, Mercator said in a filing to the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.
In Slovenia, which remains the most important market for Mercator Group, retail revenue rose by 0.5% relative to the comparable period of the preceding year.
“Re-establishment of retail operations in the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina in September 2017 also had a positive effect on Mercator Group revenue,” the company said.
The Mercator Group's EBITDA totalled 86.8 million euro in the first nine months of 2018; in the equivalent period of the preceding year it amounted to 69.6 million euro, according to restated data.
The group's net financial debt as at September 30, 2018, amounted to 738.3 million euro, which is 93.3 million euro less than a year earlier.
Capital expenditures of the Mercator Group in the first nine months totalled 19.1 million euro, down 47.8% on the year.
In January-September 2018, Mercator invested just over 19 million euro into its fixed assets, while divestments amounted to 17.8 million euro, which included sale of property, plant, and equipment. Mercator acquired 13 new units, or 6,923 m2 of new gross retail area, in all markets of its operations. The company also carried out all required activities for divestment of 10 shopping centres in Slovenia and signed a sale agreement for them in October.
Mercator is part of Croatia's ailing food-to-retail concern Agrokor. The companies within the Mercator Group reported until and including June 9, 2017, a total of 43.8 million euro of receivables by the Agrokor Group companies. In January 2018, a Croatian court recognized and confirmed all reported receivables.
On July 4, Agrokor creditors approved a settlement agreement, which envisages the establishment of a new Agrokor concern held by the creditors. The largest shareholder in the new concern will be Russia's Sberbank with a 39.2% stake.
($ = 0.87690 euro)
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