Report
Sašo Stanovnik

Slovenian Weekly Regional Overview 26.11.2018 - 30.11.2018

MERCATOR 9M18:
Mercator Group reported revenues of EUR 1,617m for 9M18, up 1.6% YoY, Revenue from retail is up by 5.4% YoY. EBITDA amounted to EUR 86.8m, up 24.7% YoY to EUR 86.8m. CAPEX for the period amounted to EUR 19.1m. Profit of EUR 8.9m was achieved in 9M18 vs loss of 10.5m in 9M17. Net financial debt lowered by 11% to EUR 738.3m with equity at EUR 492.3m.

ECONOMY:
Statisti office published GDP numbers for 3Q18 – detailed data on page 4.
In 3Q18 Slovenian GDP increased by 4.8% YoY vs last year period. This translates into 4.5% YoY GDP growth in 9M18 vs 9M17. Statisti office also noted that sseasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.3% QoQ and by 5.0% over 3Q17.
Gross capital formation growth remains strong with 12.0% YoY growth. Constructioninvestment surged by 19.6% while gross fixed capital formation in other machinery and equipment was up by 6.7% YoY.
On the other hand export growth is decelerating from past quarters as it achieved only 5.7% YoY growth. True, this is still an excellent growth. Imports also decelerated to 4.3%. The external trade surplus contributed 1.7 p.p. to the economic growth.
The main dispoitment came from household consumption as it stagnated in 3Q18 after reporting for 1.5-3.0% growth rates in past few quarters. It did not feel like this during the summer thats why this is the main surprise. We will see what 4Q18 delivers.

Underlyings
Cinkarna Celje d.d.

Cinkarna Celje dd is a Slovenia-based company, engaged in the production and marketing of titanium dioxide pigment. The Company's product range includes titanium dioxide and sulfuric acid; titanium and zinc sheets; zinc wire, alloys and anodes; printing plates, links and graphic preparations, as well as powder, rubber and anticorrosion coatings. Additionally, it offers construction and joint sealants; facade plasters; mortars and screeds; decorative plasters; protection, waterproofing and quick bonding agents; cement additives; copper and sulfur fungicides, as well as other chemical products. The Company operates through one wholly owned subsidiary, Cinkarna-Kvarc doo Tuzla, incorporated in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mercator d.d.,

Mercator dd is a Slovenia-based company primarily involved in the wholesale and retail sale of consumer goods. Its operations are structured into two segments, namely Trade and Non-trade. The Trade segment consists of retail and wholesale of consumer goods such as food and beverages as well as appliances and electronics under the brand M Tehnika, construction materials under the brand M Grandja and furniture under the brand M Pohistvo. The Non-trade segment consists of food processing, such as the production of bread and pastry, fruit, vegetables, coffee and cocoa products, as well as hospitality and other services. Mercator Real Estate business unit provides management of real estate and development of retail network. On September 4, 2014, Agrokor dd raised its interest in the Company to 80.73% from 53.12%.

Salus Ljubljana

Salus Ljubljana dd is a Slovenia-based company engaged in the wholesale and distribution of medical products. The Company's portfolio includes pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical supplies, food supplements, cosmetic products and other health products. The Company's core clients are pharmacies, hospitals and health centers from both Slovenia and abroad. Moreover, Salus Ljubljana dd offers the products to its business partners through the Internet store. The Company also provides additional services related to the registration of medicines and the distribution and storage of pharmaceuticals and other medical products.

Provider
Alta Invest
Alta Invest

ALTA Invest, investicijske storitve, d.d., (ALTA Invest, investment services, Inc.) is a part of ALTA Group, the biggest financial non-banking group in Slovenia. ALTA Invest has around 28% market share on the domestic Ljubljana Stock Exchange and has more than EUR 95m of assets under management.

Our trading advantage is our execution of large trading blocks with low impact on the market. We offer trading on several platforms on numerous markets, with a wide variety of financial instruments. Our advantage is also a research department, which is both sell side and buy side and has the far most extensive and regular coverage of domestic companies. We cover 9 companies on Ljubljana Stock Exchange, which is around 90% of Mcap on LJSE – and here we are practically the only local broker providing this kind of extensive and regular coverage for Slovenian companies.

A part of ALTA Group are ALTA Skladi, a mutual fund asset management company with roughly EUR 260m of asset under management. ALTA Group is also extensively involved in corporate finance projects and raised considerable assets (fixed income and equity) in the last two years for several companies.

Analysts
Sašo Stanovnik

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