In 2025, the Petrol Group will focus on accelerating its shift to sustainable energy, investing in renewables and digitalization to enhance financial performance and business stability amid geopolitical, regulatory and inflationary challenges.
Business environment and challenges
Global energy markets in 2025 are expected to remain volatile due to geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures and price regulations. In Slovenia, the Group’s primary market, narrow petroleum product margins and strict regulatory constraints will continue to challenge operations. Additional costs tied to green initiatives, such as higher share of biofuels and environmental legislation, also pose significant hurdles.
To address these pressures, Petrol plans to focus on further process optimization and cost efficiency to ensure long-term business stability. Key steps toward strengthening business performance and resilience include investments in digitalization and operational improvements. At the same time, the Group will pay special attention to managing risks and improving the capital structure, adapting to the evolving energy market and overall volatile environment.
Strategic focus
Energy source stability remains crucial for long-term success amid the energy transition. The Group’s strategic focus remains on advancing renewable energy projects, including solar and wind power plants, while expanding its electric charging network and energy solutions for individuals and businesses. In that way, the Group aims to provide a sustainable future for its customers by promoting efficient energy use and supporting the green transition.
However, Petrol will maintain a strong position in fuel and petroleum product sales, which, alongside merchandise sales, remain the foundation of its financial stability. To further enhance operations, Petrol will continue investing in supply chain optimization, digitalization and service modernization, with the goal of expanding its network of service stations across the region and reinforcing its leading position in both traditional service stations and EV-charging points.
Annual business targets
Petrol’s 2025 plan outlines sales revenue target expected to reach EUR 6.1bn (+5.2% YoY) and a gross profit of EUR 789m (+11.8% YoY), building on the previous year’s estimates. As noted in the 9M 2024 report, the Group remains mostly aligned with its business plan, despite tightened regulations and lower margins. The 2025 targets are supported by projected sales of 4m tons of fuels and petroleum products and merchandise and services worth EUR 702.8m. Petrol also envisaged selling 8.5 TWh of natural gas and 3.3 TWh of electricity directly to consumers, while amounts which will be sold through trading with the margin are not projected.
Moving on, EBITDA is projected at EUR 339m (+11.3% YoY), improving the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.2x from the 2024 plan’s 1.4x. Net profit is forecasted at EUR 177.8m, a 13.6% improvement over the previous year’s plan.
On the investment front, CAPEX is targeted at EUR 150m, with more than a half to be allocated to energy transition projects, such as renewables, digitalization, and expanding mobility solutions. However, the 2024 CAPEX plan of EUR 130m faced challenges due to low margins, which constrained investment capacity, particularly for energy transition projects. This highlights the importance of margin recovery in realizing Petrol’s sustainability-focused goals.
To conclude, much like 2024, next year’s performance will face challenges from geopolitical tensions, regulatory constraints and inflationary pressures. Therefore, Petrol’s progress in energy transition and projected performance improvements will depend on its ability to navigate these hurdles and adapt to the volatile environment effectively.
