At the end of February 2023, SBITOP grew by 5.6% MoM, ending it at 1,191.90 points.

The total equity turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange amounted to EUR 23.1m, representing a decrease of 55.4% YoY, and a slight 2% MoM increase. This would also mean that the average daily turnover in February amounted to EUR 1.1m.

In terms of the block trades, four block transactions were made during the month, this being Sava Re at EUR 3.4m, Triglav at EUR 673k, NLB at EUR 347k and Krka at EUR 318.5k. Excluding these transactions, total equity turnover amounted to EUR 18.4m. Including blocks, the largest turnover was recorded by Krka, with a turnover of EUR 7.8m (or 33.9% of the total equity turnover), followed by NLB, at EUR 4.7m (or 20.2% of the total), Sava Re at EUR 4.4m due to a mentioned block trade (or 19% of the total), Triglav at EUR 2.4m (or 10.3% of the total) and Petrol at EUR 1.3m (or 5.4% of the total). In fact, this would mean that the top 5 most traded stocks accounted for 88.8% of the total turnover, while the top 10 would account for 99.6%.

In terms of the indices, Slovenia’s main index, SBITOP, increased by as much as 5.6% and ended the month at 1,191.90 points. At the same time, SBITOP TR grew by 5.6%, ending the month at 1,506.90 points.

Taking a look at the SBITOP constituents’ performance during the month, we can see that 9 out of 10 companies recorded growth during February. Two companies recorded a double-digit growth with the largest increase recorded by NLB, with a growth of 13.5%. NLB was followed by Triglav with an 11.4% share price increase with both of those companies driving SBITOP’s growth. Further, the third financial company within SBITOP also noted a positive share price development with a 5.9% increase during the month. Finally, Cinkarna, Telekom Slovenije and Unior also recorded solid performance with 9.3%, 7.7% and 7.1% increases during February, respectively. On the flip side, the only decrease was recorded by Equinox, which declined by 5.5%.

Performance of SBITOP constituents (February 2023, MoM, %)

Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research

Overall, the Slovenian equity market noted a strong start since the beginning of the year. On a YTD basis, SBITOP as an index noted an exceptional double-digit growth of 13.9%. This growth was mainly driven by an increase in share price by the two biggest heavyweights – Krka and NLB with 14.1% and 18.9% share price increases, respectively. Further, SBITOP’S performance was further amplified by the remaining two financials: Tiglav and Sava Re which noted a strong performance with 13.3% and 12.9% increases, respectively. Further, Cinkarna noted the biggest increase in 2023 so far, amounting to 22.6%. Almost every SBITOP constituent noted a positive development on LJSE.

YTD Performance of SBITOP constituents (YTD, %)

Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research

In January 2023, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 11.3% YoY, totaling 760,041 units continuing a trend of recovery from 2022. However, this growth primarily occurred due to an unusually modest base in January 2022. Further, in Croatia, passenger car registration reported solid growth of 14.1% YoY.

In January 2023, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 11.3% YoY, totaling 760,041 units. The most significant increase reported in the EU by far was in Spain, where the reported increase amounted to 21.8k units, representing a 51.4% YoY increase. Spain is followed by Italy, where a 20.6k unit increase can be noted (+19% YoY). Furthermore, France, which can be considered a major and significant region reported an increase of 9.1k units (+8.8% YoY%), while Germany, also a significant region, reported a slight decrease of 2.6% YoY in January. Finally, Croatia noted a solid 14.1% YoY increase with 3.4k total units.

Fuel types of new cars

During January 2023, petrol remained the most popular fuel type for newly-registered cars in the EU with 12.3% growth, resulting in a market share of 37.9% (+0.3 p.p.). By contrast, the EU’s diesel car market continued to struggle with a 1.6% further decline YoY. Further, registration of new battery electric vehicles increases by as much as 22.9% across the EU with a market share of 9.5% (+0.9 p.p. YoY). Hybrid electric vehicles also reported a strong start to the year with 22.1% YoY growth, across all of the big markets.

Fuel type cars market share [January 2023, %]

Source: ACEA, Bloomberg Research

Two leading Croatian food manufacturers, Podravka and Atlantic Grupa have agreed to cooperate on the foreign markets with mutual export support. This implied that Atlantic’s distribution will provide support for the placement of Podravka’s products on the Austrian market, while Podravka will market Atlantic’s products on the US market.

Yesterday, both Atlantic and Podravka published the announcement of mutual export support on the foreign markets. The two leading food manufacturers have agreed to support each other’s placement of products in foreign markets. Atlantic Grupa will provide for the placement of Podravka’s products on the Austrian market, while Podravka will market Atlantic’s products on the US market. The goal of this cooperation is to maximize mutual synergies by strengthening the product placement of both companies and raising the recognition of their brands, using the network and market positions that both companies inherit in these markets.

Both companies stated they are extremely satisfied with the cooperation, which will allow for achieving synergies in the US market and Austria. Both companies think that this will strengthen the presence of both brands on the mentioned markets.