Today, we decided to present you with a brief analysis of cash per share of Slovenian Blue Chip companies.

We decided to update our cash-per-share analysis for chosen blue-chip companies in Slovenia as almost all of them have published their reports for 2022. The analysis is done in order to see the strength of the balance sheet and how liquid the selected blue chips are. This figure, cash per share, as a percentage of a company’s share price, can give us more insight into the company’s strength in returning the money to shareholders (either through dividends or buybacks), paying down debt, etc. We are excluding financial companies as this measure is not adequate.

Cash per Share of Slovenian Blue Chips (EUR)

Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research

A high level of cash per share could indicate a solid performance of the company, reassuring the shareholders that the company is operating with “enough room” and liquidity to cover any potential difficulties and that the company has adequate capital.

However, it is important to note that looking solely at cash per share of the company could lead to a misleading conclusion without taking into consideration the company’s whole cash and cash equivalents position, especially compared to the company’s short-term debt. This ratio is especially sensitive to stock split, as it basically increases the denominator numerous times, without any effect on the numerator. Consequently, recent Petrol’s 20-to-1 share split affected the calculation, while nothing effectively changed. Also, we note that Cinkarna, too, already conducted a corporate action of share split of 10-to-1 during 2020, just like Petrol did. Nevertheless, using this ratio as a percentage of the current share price can give investors a really insightful view.

Cash Per Share as a Percentage of the Current Share Price

Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research

As visible in the graph, out of chosen Slovenian companies, Luka Koper operates with the highest cash per share as a percentage of their current share price of 20.8%, while their cash per share amounts to EUR 5.4. Luka Koper is followed by Cinkarna Celje with cash per share as a percentage of their current share price standing at 20%. Krka comes next with 15.4%, Petrol with 10.6%.

Cash position of Slovenian Blue Chips (EUR m)

Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research

In March 2023, the total number of tourist arrivals amounted to 434.5k, representing an increase of 33% YoY. Meanwhile, total tourist nights amounted to 1.12m, which is an increase of 16% YoY.

Recently, the Croatian Tourist Board published the latest report on the developments in the tourism sector, including data for March 2023. The report shows that the total number of tourist arrivals amounted to 434.5k, which is an increase of 33% YoY. Of this, foreign tourist arrivals amounted to 279.7k, an increase of 40% YoY, while domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 154.8k, representing an increase of 21% YoY.

Moving on to tourist nights, in March 2023 they amounted to 1.12m in total, representing an increase of 16% YoY. Of this, total foreign tourist nights amounted to 790k, an increase of 16% YoY, while domestic tourist arrivals amounted to 331.7k, also an increase of 16% YoY. This would also mean that the average stay per person amounted to 2.58 nights, a decrease of 12.5% YoY.

Total tourist arrivals and tourist nights in Croatia (January 2019 – March 2023)

Source: HTZ, InterCapital Research

Looking at the tourist nights by the type of accommodation, the majority stayed in hotels (62%) followed by private real estate at 22%, 4% in camps, and 12% in other types of accommodation. In terms of the tourist nights by country of origin, the domestic market had the largest share, at 30%, followed by Slovenia at 10%, Germany at 9%, Austria at 7%, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 6%.

Meanwhile, the counties that recorded the most tourist nights are Istra, at 259.1k, Kvarner, at 187.8k, Grad Zagreb, at 160.1k, Splitsko-dalmatinska, at 152.4k, and finally, Dubrovačko-neretvanska, at 108.2k.

The first 3 months of 2023 have gone quite well for the Croatian tourism industry, and given recent forward-looking data such as the booking numbers at various online reservation sites, Croatia stands at the top of the list. This would mean that in the future, more arrivals and nights could be expected. It would seem that the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation is not affecting the tourists’ sentiment, which for a country like Croatia is really good news. Finally, the inclusion of Croatia into the Schengen and Eurozone areas is also quite supportive of this trend.