The rating agency Standard&Poor’s (S&P) confirmed the long-term and short-term A-3 credit rating of the Slovenian energy group Petrol – BBB- with a stable outlook.
S&P also removed Petrol’s ratings from CreditWatch Negative. The agency set Petrol’s ratings to CreditWatch Negative in July, saying the CreditWatch Negative reflects the effects of negative intervention in the fuel market, where retailers were forced to sell fuel below cost as a result of price regulation. The credit action is also the result of uncertainty regarding the compensation of the resulting loss and risks related to potential additional interventions in the energy market.
In the first nine months of 2022, Petrol recorded a net profit of 24 million euros, which is 74% less compared to the same period last year. Sales revenues in the period January – September 2022 more than doubled, to 7 billion euros, from 3.1 billion euros in the same period in 2021, supported by rising costs and sales prices of fuel and energy products, increased quantities of fuel and energy products , by joining the Croatian Crodux Derivati Dva Petrol group and regulating fuel prices.
EBITDA profit fell by 44% year-on-year to EUR 98.3 million in the first nine months of 2022.
At the end of September 2022, Petrol operated 594 gas stations, including 318 pumps in Slovenia, 202 in Croatia, 42 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17 in Serbia and 15 in Montenegro.
