OPERATIONS OF THE SIJ GROUP IN THE PERIOD JANUARY - SEPTEMBER 2017 AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RE-ISSUE OF COMMERCIAL PAPERS

The SIJ Group has been operating successfully in the first nine months of the current year, has continued to increase the sales revenues, and has maintained the operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA). SIJ d.d. is also announcing its fourth consecutive issue of commercial papers.

In the first nine months of 2017 the SIJ Group has generated 763.5 million euros of sales revenues (a 19.7 percent increase in comparison to the same period last year), an operating profit before depreciation (EBITDA) in the amount of 78.7 million euros (comparable to the same period last year, when it was 78.4 ), and a net profit in the amount of 13.7 million euros. The Group has maintained high profitability in the third quarter of 2017, as the EBITDA margin in the first nine months of 2017 amounted to 10.3 percent, remaining above the industry average in the metallurgical as well as poultry division of the Group.

The sales revenues in the metallurgical division amounted to 571.4 million euros in the first nine months of 2017 (a 17.3 percent growth in comparison to the same period last year), achieving an EBITDA in the amount of 61.0 million euros (comparable to the same period last year), and an EBITDA margin of 10.7 percent (a fall by 1.9 percentage points in comparison to the same period last year, but still above the industry average). Investment outflows in this period amounted to 43.9 million euros, less than in the same period last year, which is in accordance with the strategic approach of the SIJ Group and the gradual easing of the investment cycle 2014-2020, which peaked in 2016 (62.9 million euros). The most important investment in the aforementioned investment cycle in the amount of 30 million euros was into the AOD converter in SIJ Acroni, which will significantly influence the increase in production capacities and competitiveness in the production of stainless quarto plates with which we hold the leading market share in the European Union. The SIJ Group has already been recording the positive effects of this investment in the final quarter of this year.

The poultry division (Perutnina Ptuj Group) has generated 192.3 million euros in sales revenues in the first nine months of 2017 (a 3.7 percent growth in comparison to the same period last year), an EBITDA in the amount of 17.6 million euros (1.5 million euros less than in the same period last year, which is mainly due to the increase in labour costs), and an EBITDA margin in the amount of 9.2 percent, which is still above the industry average despite being a 1.1 percentage point lower than in the same period last year. The financial position of the poultry division is very stable (the NFD/EBITDA ratio is 1.8), which allows for further growth and development of the division.

In order to optimize the financing costs and to diversify short-term financing sources SIJ d.d. started the pre-sale process for the fourth consecutive issue of commercial papers on the Slovenian capital market today, which will be concluded in mid-December this year; the expected volume of the issue is up to 30 million euros.



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The SIJ Group is the largest Slovenian vertically integrated metallurgical group, whose products occupy leading market positions on the European and global niche steel markets. In addition to the metallurgical (principal activity), the SIJ Group also consists of a food processing activity (Perutnina Ptuj Group), which together employ almost 7,500 people in Slovenia and abroad. In the first half of 2017, the SIJ Group generated a sales revenue of 512.4 million euros (a 23.8 percent increase in comparison to the same period last year), which exceeded half a billion euros for the first time in history. The operating profit or loss before depreciation (EBITDA) in the amount of 55.9 million euros is comparable to the same period last year.


Additional information:
mag. Sara Wagner, Head of Corporate Communications
Email: sara.wagner@sij.si