At the end of May 2022, SBITOP amounted to 1,145.90 points, decreasing by -2.22% during the month.
The Ljubljana Stock Exchange has published the latest trading activity report for May 2022. According to the report, the total equity turnover (including block transactions) amounted to EUR 33.3m, representing an increase of 9.43% YoY, and 19.5% MoM. With the current geopolitical situation, inflationary pressures, as well as the fact that most Slovenian blue chips published their Q1 2022 results in May, the increase in trading is to be expected. This would also mean that the average daily turnover during the month amounted to EUR 1.5m.
If we were to look at the trading data excluding blocks, the increase on both the YoY and MoM basis is more significant. In this manner, the equity turnover amounted to EUR 32.9m, representing a growth of 16.2% YoY, and 26.6% MoM. This means that less block turnover happened during May 2022, especially compared to May 2021.
Moving on to the most traded companies, Krka leads the way with a total turnover of EUR 12.6m, representing almost 38% of the total turnover during the month. Next up, we have NLB, with a turnover of EUR 5.8m (or 17.44% of the total), Triglav, with a turnover of EUR 4.78m (or 14.34% of the total), Petrol, with a turnover of EUR 3.75m (or 11.3% of the total), and Sava Re, with a turnover of EUR 2.1m (or 6.32% of the total). Together, these top 5 most traded companies represented 87.3% of the total turnover on the LJSE during the month. If we took the top 10 most traded companies, they would represent 98.5% of the total turnover, meaning that a small number of companies do the vast majority of the turnover in Slovenia.
Performance of Slovenian blue chips (May 2022, %)
Taking a look at the performance of the Slovenian blue chips in May, only 3 companies recorded growth, 1 did not experience any change on a MoM basis, and the remaining 6 Slovenia blue chips experienced some sort of decline. The largest increase was experienced by Luka Koper and Cinkarna Celje, with 5% and 3.5%, respectively. Considering that both companies recorded strong Q1 2022 results, with both top and bottom line increases, their growth is expected. On the other hand, Petrol declined the most, losing -7.3% of its value during the month, followed by Sava Re with -3.8%, Telekom Slovenije with -3.4%, and Krka, with -2%. The decline experienced by Petrol is not wholly supported by their results, as the Company posted solid results during the quarter. The current geopolitical situation and uncertainty regarding the embargo on Russian oil (which was still not agreed on in May), could in the future continue to drive oil prices up which puts uncertainty on the size of company’s working capital and margins due to state interventions. State interventions in petrol prices are present across all its markets, but on its main market of Slovenia it is quite unfavorable as the state is also putting a cap on import price. They have a commitment from the Government to compensate them for the losses. They expect to be compensated for EUR 51m and Petrol published that this is the result of the Government’s measure until 30 Apr. Petrol expects 2022 net profit of EUR 158.3m which is a sharp rebound compared to last year. They see tourists coming and they expect a good season. They believe that their plan for 2022 net income will not be jeopardized by Government intervention. As Petrol is only hedging its margins and protecting itself against the volatility of prices, at some points it sells below purchase prices, so they believe they will be compensated by the Government for 2022. For the rest of the year, they hope to renegotiate to a more acceptable model with the government. All these news surely had an influence on the stock’s performance. The remaining Slovenian blue chips remained around the 0% range, showing that despite the situation, May was not a month of strong changes, one way or the other.
This is also reflected in SBITOP, LJSE’s main index, which lost -2.22% of its value during the month, ending May at 1,145.90 points.
