Mercator, Slovenia’s leading retailer, saw group sales revenue increase by 0.4% to EUR 1.06 billion. Group net profit rose by 58.4% to EUR 2.4 million, the company declared. Normalised profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by almost 73% to EUR 83 million and operating profit (EBIT) was up by over 76% to EUR 29.9 million.
The group’s Slovenian business Poslovni Sistem Mercator d.d., the most important company in the group, increased its sales revenue by 4.1% to EUR 598 million.”In the first six months of 2019, Mercator Group was highly successful in terms of its continued pursuit of the goals laid down in its business strategy, as well as in terms of its financial and business restructuring,” the Ljubljana-based company said. At the same time, it continued to reduce debt, cutting it by more than EUR 152 million, and improve its debt maturity profile. “In comparable terms, the ratio between net financial debt and normalised EBITDA as at 30 June was 5.9, which means that it is 28.3% lower than in the same period of the year before,” it said.
Mercator CEO Tomislav Čizmić said the company had “succeeded in accomplishing a business and financial turnover”. “We will continue to consistently execute our strategy, since both the long-term development of Mercator as the largest Slovenian and regional retailer and the development of the entire chain of the food processing industry in Slovenia and the region depend on it.”