SIJ GROUP PREVENTIVE MEASURES AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS REGARDING CORONAVIRUS

Ljubljana, 18 March 2020 -  SIJ Group has taken preventive measures balanced to the coronavirus spread in Slovenia in order to protect the health of employees and to ensure smooth business operations as much as possible.

SIJ Group has introduced numerous measures to provide health safety of our employees and to operate as smoothly as possible in order to meet our obligations to customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. In these difficult moments, we are aware that the health of employees and families comes first, so we have already taken a number of measures recommended by the competent institutions of the Republic of Slovenia, as well as many additional ones. These are certainly difficult business circumstances bringing a new reality for most of the companies in Slovenia.

A crisis team has been established that adopts uniform, prudent and integrated self-protection measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections among production and administrative employees. Due to drastic changing of the situation in Slovenia, the crisis team of the SIJ Group meets on a daily basis. In order to ensure smooth operations and manage all identified risks, it monitors daily the situation in all key areas of business (sales, purchasing, logistics, human resources) as well as the measures of the Republic of Slovenia, the European Union, the European Steel Association Eurofer and other competent institutions.

SIJ Group has not suffered any significant impact on operations by the middle of March, and we strive for business continuity as much as possible. So far, we have enough orders, and we are in constant contact with our customers, even those from the most critical area in Italy. We have assurances from suppliers that they can provide raw and other materials we need to ensure a smooth flow of production. The supply chain is functioning for the time being, European and overseas logistics routes are still open, facing only minor delays due to additional border controls. At the moment, SIJ Group is not yet experiencing major disruptions in business, however, in line with the forecast for the epidemic in Slovenia and nearby countries, we are definitely expecting an increase in business risks at the end of the month.

Production in Europe is still functioning. SIJ Group also estimates that currently we have relatively good operating conditions. Due to widespread uncertainty and rapidly changing conditions, we are currently unable to accurately assess how the epidemic will affect our business in the future.

We will immediately notify all customers, suppliers, investors and other relevant business partners of any disruption to our business.

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SIJ Group is the largest vertically integrated metallurgical group in Slovenia, which operates according to the principles of the circular economy and with its products occupies leading market positions in the European and global niche steel markets. SIJ Group is one of the largest Slovenian exporters and is considered the biggest employer in the Gorenjska and Koroška regions.

According to unaudited operating data, SIJ Group generated sales of € 417.2 million in the first half of 2019, of which 84.4 percent in foreign markets. EBITDA achieved was EUR 38 million, with an EBITDA margin of 9.1 percent. In the first half of 2019, SIJ Group generated EUR 81.2 million net profit.

Additional information:

SIJ – Slovenska industrija jekla, d.d.
mag. Sara Wagner, Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +386 1 242 98 27
Mobile phone: +386 41 313 532
E-mail: sara.wagner@sij.si