For most of the largest Slovenian companies, the year 2021 brought a rebound after the pandemic: most of the companies on the TOP300 list posted profits and grew – some significantly. Overall, the results are above those from before the crisis: sales of only seven companies reached 1 billion euros in 2018: last year that number grew to 11.
The largest company in Slovenia? For years it has been the national fuel and energy trading company Petrol. After the year 2020 was strongly affected by the pandemic, Petrol significantly improved its results: the sales shot from 2.4 billion in 2020 to 3.8 billion euros last year. At the group level, Petrol increased its revenue from 3 billion to almost 5 billion euros.
This strong performance continues in 2022: group sales already reached 4.15 billion euros in the first half of the year – that’s a whopping 126% over last year’s figures! Rapid growth is on one side related to the diminishing negative effects of the pandemic, yet to a large extent, it is also a result of Petrol’s moves from fuel trading to other energy sources, and from successful takeovers. Last year the company took over E3, one of the largest electricity retailers in Slovenia. Petrol also bought Croatian fuel trader Crodux.
Strong growth was also recorded by the home appliances maker Gorenje (rank 5). The company profited from the increased demand during and after the corona crisis, but also from the synergies within the Hisense Group. The Chinese electronics giant took over Gorenje in 2018. Before the takeover, revenue lingered around the 800 million euro mark. In 2020 sales reached 1.2 billion and last year exceeded 2 billion euros.
The biggest winner of this year’s edition of TOP300 is arguably Belektron (Rank 4). In a relatively short time, the company became one of the world’s largest and most successful carbon emission allowances traders. Its revenue shot up from 800 million in 2020 to 2.4 billion euros last year.
Not all companies were equally successful. Renault’s plant Revoz used to be the fourth largest company in Slovenia before the pandemic with around 1.5 billion euros of sales. Last year Revoz slipped to 9th place with revenue reaching 1.2 billion euros.
The largest pharmaceutical company in Slovenia, Krka, has fallen two places and is ranked 6th with 1.4 billion – 87 million euros down from the 2020 results. Yet on the group level, Krka has managed to reach a record net profit of 308 million and 2 percent revenue growth. The group’s sales increased by 6 percent in the first half of this year despite the impact of the war in Ukraine. Pharmaceutical products are exempt from the sanctions against the Russian Federation. According to Krka’s semi-annual financial report, it is difficult to assess the future impact of the situation, “however the results of the first half of the year are encouraging”. The sales of the second Slovenian pharmaceutical company, Lek (Rank 7), show steady growth and reached 1.3 billion last year.
As for new names on the list, the highest place is held by Ayen Energija with 81 million euros of sales (Rank 134). The company is a subsidiary of Turkish-owned wholesale electricity trader operating in southeastern Europe. The most eminent newcomer to the list is Ikea Slovenia (Rank 166). Swedish furniture retailer opened its first store in Slovenia only in February 2021. Company revenues in the first year of operations reached 64 million euros. Biotech company Bia Separations’ (Rank 187) solutions are used in covid-19 vaccine production: the company (a part of the German Sartorius group) increased its revenue by 158 percent to 57.6 million euros. A few other newcomers: logistics company Milšped (Rank 248), metal trader Exterfer (Rank 250), and agricultural machinery producer SIP Šempeter (Rank 253).
