At the General Meeting of Geoplin, the subsidiary of Petrol, (74.34% share), shareholders were informed about the preliminary findings from the financial and legal review and the scenarios concerning the possible consequences of natural gas buy-in and the need for additional liquid assets and capital until the end of the year. Petrol holds ownership of Geoplin jointly with the Republic of Slovenia, which holds a 25.01% ownership, and two other minor shareholders. By publishing this announcement for Geoplin, Petrol is announcing that these current measures will affect them greatly in the current financial year despite potential compensation from the Government.

At the General Meeting of Geoplin, the subsidiary of Petrol, (74.34% share), shareholders were informed about the preliminary findings from the financial and legal review and the scenarios concerning the possible consequences of natural gas buy-in and the need for additional liquid assets and capital until the end of the year. Possibly, there would be a need for additional liquid assets and additional capital until the end of the year.

To remind you, at the end of FY21 Geoplin had EUR 301.8m worth of assets out of which current assets make up the majority (EUR 264m), which are mostly composed of operating receivables and current financial assets. The equity of Geoplin amounted to EUR 159.6m, while the Company reported a net profit amounting to EUR 18.6m in 2021.

In 2022 gas prices continued to grow because of the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions imposed on Russia, which all ended in decreased gas supply from Russia. This has resulted in all-time high prices of gas and the Slovenian government issued regulation in which it is setting the gas prices for households to a maximum of EUR 0.073 kWh and for social services and small entrepreneurs at EUR 0.079 kWh. The regulation is valid from August lasting until end of August next year. Current prices of gas stand at 3x higher than regulated prices so some of the Slovenian distributors are cancelling their contacts with customers. Petrol distributes gas in Slovenia through Geoplin and they oversee 1/7th of gas distribution. Petrol has announced that they plan to remain a provider of energy supply in this market. In 2021 Petrol distributed 1.4 TWh (1,400,000 MWh) of gas and in 1H 2022 another 750,900 MWh (+3% YoY). So, in 2H 2022 they are looking to distribute app. 700,000 MWh. The Slovenian government has asked the company Plinovodi, the state-owned gas transmission network operator to prepare a potential mechanism to determine the entitlement to compensation for the companies which could suffer substantial loss because of the temporary natural gas price control measure. So, by publishing this announcement for Geoplin, Petrol is announcing that these current measures will affect them greatly in the current financial year despite potential compensation from the Government.

ACEA published its Yearly Industry Pocket Guide for 2022-2023 where data regarding the EU auto industry was provided. Key figures like sector employment, production, car registration, taxation have been addressed.

ACEA published its Yearly Industry Pocket Guide on a yearly basis and the latest published pocket guide regards 2022-2023. In the guide, ACEA provided the data regarding EU auto industry and a few key figures like employment, production, car registration, taxation and a few others.

Employment

Regarding employment, we note that the data refers to 2019 as the latest available year. ACEA noted that the auto industry currently provides 12.7m direct and indirect jobs for Europeans. Also, the majority of mentioned jobs, 9.2m, are non-manufacturing, while the other 3.5m are manufacturing-related jobs. Out of a total of 12.7m jobs provided, c.80% are jobs provided indirectly, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Those jobs are related to automobile use, transport, construction and indirect manufacturing (like gears, cooling and ventilation equipment, tires, etc.). Put into a wider perspective, the automotive sector accounted for almost 7% of all EU jobs in 2019. Out of all EU manufacturing jobs, the auto sector directly provides 8.5%. Further, the automotive sector was responsible for 32% of the total EU’s R&D spending in 2020.

EU automotive sector direct & indirect employment

Production

Production-wise, global car production remained stable in 2021, after three years of decline. As much as one-fifth of the world’s cars were made in Europe in 2021. Nevertheless, we note that the EU automotive sector was impacted by semiconductor shortage during 2022, and EU passenger car registration fell by 11.9% YoY in the first eight months of 2022. Also, EU car production declined for the fourth consecutive year with 194 automobile factories currently operating on EU soil.

Registration

In 20221, 66.1m cars were registered globally, out of which 21.6% (or 14.3m) were registered in Europe. EU car sales fell by another 2.4% YoY in 2021. Around two cars were sold for every 100 EU inhabitants annually. Generally, car sales became decoupled from economic growth in 2021, but commercial vehicle sales do mirror economic growth and decline.

Global new car registration

Trade

In short, the auto industry generated an annual trade surplus of EUR 79.5bn for the EU. Trade surplus grew by almost 5% YoY in 2021 with EU vehicles exports amounting to EUR 140bn (5.7m vehicles) and EU imported vehicles worth of EUR 60.5bn (3.6m vehicles).

Currently, there are 64 vehicles per 100 inhabitants in the EU, while the average age of all vehicle types is rising in the EU. Further, it is emphasized that the EU roads are by far the safest in the world. Also, all the way since 2006 the CO2 emission from car production fell by 46%.