As all the Slovenian blue chips published their Q1 2021 results, we decided to take a look at the profitability of the companies.

It is important to note that comparing the margins across the selected companies is not necessarily the best way to do the comparison as many companies operate in different industries. Since both EBITDA and profit margin reflect to a great extent the industry in which the company operates in, we advise to compare it to the peer average or median. Nevertheless, it is still worth seeing which Slovenian companies are more profitable and therefore have “room” to potentially reduce the prices of their goods or services and remain at a high level of profitability.

Q1 2021 EBITDA margin of selected companies (%)

Looking at the Q1 results, Telekom Slovenije and Krka lead the list with the highest EBITDA margins of 35.4% and 31.2%, respectively. For Telekom Slovenije this represents an increase in the margin of 1.9 p.p., although EBITDA was down 3% YoY. The company also recorded a 6% YoY decrease in sales. Breaking down the sales, Mobile services in end-customer market segment recorded a 7.1% YoY increase, primarily due to higher revenues from mobile merchandise. All other market segments recorded a decrease in sales.

Krka’s Q1 2021 EBITDA margin represents a 3.8 p.p. decrease due to a 14.5% YoY decrease in revenue, note that Q1 2021 sales were still the second strongest Q1 sales in Krka’s history.

Luka Koper, Cinkarna Celje and Petrol witnessed a fair increase in their EBITDA margins compared to Q1 2020. Petrol recorded a noticeable increase in EBITDA, amounting to EUR 54.6m (+16.1% YoY).

Change in EBITDA & Profit margin (Q1 2020 vs Q1 2021) (p.p.)

Turning our attention to profit margins, Krka leads the list with 21.8%, while its margin increased by 3.4 p.p. YoY. Luka Koper and Cinkarna Celje follow with a profit margin of 15% and 14.8%, respectively. Telekom Slovenije increased its profit margin by 1.6 p.p., reaching 6.2%. With 3%, Petrol recorded the lowest profit margin out of the observed companies.

Q1 2021 Profit margin of Selected Companies (%)

The Governing Council will continue to conduct net asset purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) with a total envelope of EUR 1,850bn until at least the end of March 2022 and, in any case, until it judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is over.

As expected by the market, the Governing Council decided to reconfirm its very accommodative monetary policy stance.

First, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics.

Second, the Governing Council will continue to conduct net asset purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) with a total envelope of EUR 1,850bn until at least the end of March 2022 and, in any case, until it judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is over. Based on a joint assessment of financing conditions and the inflation outlook, the Governing Council expects net purchases under the PEPP over the coming quarter to continue to be conducted at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of the year.

The Council will purchase flexibly according to market conditions and with a view to preventing a tightening of financing conditions that is inconsistent with countering the downward impact of the pandemic on the projected path of inflation. Furthermore, the Council will continue to reinvest the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the PEPP until at least the end of 2023. In any case, the future roll-off of the PEPP portfolio will be managed to avoid interference with the appropriate monetary policy stance.

Third, net purchases under the asset purchase programme (APP) will continue at a monthly pace of EUR 20bn. The Council continues to expect monthly net asset purchases under the APP to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates, and to end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates. The Council also intends to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the APP for an extended period of time past the date when it starts raising the key ECB interest rates, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain favorable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation.

Finally, the Council will continue to provide ample liquidity through its refinancing operations. The funding obtained through the third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) plays a crucial role in supporting bank lending to firms and households.