Ljubljana, 21 August 2025 – At its 7th meeting, the Supervisory Board of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana, discussed the Report on the Operations of the Petrol Group and Petrol d.d., Ljubljana between January and June 2025. The Petrol Group’s business results in the first half of 2025 are better than those in the first half of 2024, although lower than planned due to the stringent regulatory framework. The diversification strategy continues to be implemented in 2025, with a strong focus on the energy transition, digitalization and sustainable business operations.

President of the Management Board of Petrol d.d. Ljubljana, Sašo Berger, stressed: “Although they are better than last year, we are not satisfied with the results in the first half of 2025. Regulatory interventions in domestic pricing policy continue to constrain the Petrol Group’s investment development potential. In light of these limitations, the Management Board remains focused on ensuring business stability, maintaining cost discipline, advancing the company’s long-term development, and accelerating investments in foreign markets.”

Uncertainty driven by regulation and geopolitical conditions on energy markets

The results continue to be adversely affected by the current regulatory framework in the field of petroleum product sales, which became even more restrictive in mid-June. The capped gross fuel margin in Slovenia remains the lowest in both the region and the EU, amounting to less than half of the EU average. Combined with growing environmental requirements, it continues to be a key risk factor for future development. Natural gas price regulation in Slovenia ended at the end of April 2024 and in Croatia at the end of March 2024. From 1 March 2025, electricity prices in Slovenia are not regulated anymore, while geopolitical uncertainty remains high.

President of the Supervisory Board of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana, Vesna Južna, pointed out: “The Petrol Group’s business results in the first half of 2025 have fallen short of the plan, primarily due to the challenging environment in which the company operates. This regulatory framework limits the company’s ability to generate sufficient financial resources needed to support its development plans and investments—particularly in the area of energy transition, as mandated by regulators. Two key factors contribute to this situation: the fuel margin in Slovenia, which remains the lowest in the EU, and an inadequate pricing formula for petroleum product price regulation set by the regulator, which fails to account for all fuel procurement costs—biocomponent, the blending share of which is determined by the regulator.”

Growth of sales in all key business segments

Despite the challenging situation, the Petrol Group achieved better business results in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. However, Petrol Group’s long-term investment development potential is decreasing due to the even more restrictive regulatory framework.

In the first half of 2025, the Petrol Group generated sales revenue of EUR 3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1 percent.

In the period concerned, the Petrol Group sold 1,958 thousand tons of fuel and petroleum products, merchandise in the amount of EUR 316 million, 11 TWh of natural gas, 6 TWh of electricity, and 75 thousand MWh of heat.

A positive trend was recorded in the volume of sales indexes in all sales categories in the first half of 2025. Sales of fuels and petroleum products increased by 7% year-on-year, sales of merchandise and services by 3%, natural gas sales by 10%, and electricity sales by 2%. In light of the current regulatory framework in Slovenia characterised by high duties, retail fuel prices have stayed relatively high, making Slovenia less attractive to transit customers, which has a negative effect on final consumption in fuel and petroleum product sales. Growth was achieved on foreign markets where the Petrol Group has increased its investment activities and employment.

At the end of June 2025, the Petrol Group operated 595 service stations and 621 charging stations or more than 1,100 charging points.

Successful cost management and business optimization

Gross profit with closed net commodity derivatives of the Petrol Group was EUR 347 million in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year growth exceeding EUR 11 million or 3 percent, mostly as a result of more volumes of fuel sold on foreign markets, good sales of natural gas to foreign markets, better results in natural gas distribution and improved profit margin on merchandise and service sales.

Thanks to the Petrol Group’s successful management of operating costs, these amounted to EUR 259 million in the first half of this year, which is slightly less than in the same period last year. EBITDA of just over EUR 145 million was by EUR 17 million or 13 percent higher than in the same period last year.

In light of the more rigorous regulatory environment in the first half of 2025, ongoing cost management and business optimisation remained an important priority, as a result of which CIR (operating expenses to gross profit with DFI) in the first half of 2025 was the lowest in the last three years. The lower operating expenses were mostly a result of lower costs of materials and services and labour costs.

The reduction in net debt significantly contributed to lower financing costs and had a positive impact on net profit, which amounted to more than EUR 75 million in the period January–June 2025, a year-on-year increase of EUR 23 million or 44 percent.

Net debt was nearly EUR 336 million, which is more than EUR 92 million less than at the end of 2024. The net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.0 is in line with the set targets.

In the first half of 2025, over EUR 37 million was earmarked for investments in property, plant and equipment, intangible fixed assets and long-term investments. Of this, a half was intended for investments in the retail sale of fuels and petroleum products, and merchandise and services, 32 percent for investments in the energy transition and digitalisation, 8 percent in logistics, and just over 9 percent in investments in other infrastructure. In the first half of 2025, 32 percent of invested funds was allocated to energy transition, representing a one-third increase in the investment structure compared to the same period last year. Going forward, investments will be tailored to the developments in energy price regulation and to the stabilisation of the Petrol Group’s cash flow. The Petrol Group will continue with the activities aimed at improving service station profitability.

Supervisory Board’s opinion

According to the Supervisory Board, the Management Board of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana, successfully adapted the operations to market challenges, effectively managed operating costs, and consistently pursued its strategy of diversification, digitalization, and green transition in the first half of 2025. At the same time, the Supervisory Board emphasizes that the regulatory framework must necessarily be changed to ensure a stable supply and enable the company to achieve its strategic objectives.

The Supervisory Board expects the Management Board to continue with business optimization and the implementation of cost-saving measures.