(Ljubljana, 16 April 2020) – The supervisory board of the company Holding Slovenske Elektrarne d.o.o. has reviewed the audited annual report of the HSE group and company for 2019, including an independent auditor opinion, and assessed that it has been complied with in a timely fashion, in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards adopted by the EU, and the Companies Act, that the financial statements fairly represent the financial situation of the HSE group and company as at 31 December 2019 in all important aspects, and it thus confirms the annual report of the HSE group and company for 2019.
Last year was a record year for the HSE group, as the company achieved the best result in its history in the sales and trade segment. We also successfully refinanced loans and reduced the group’s indebtedness, resulting in the rating agency Moody’s upgrading our credit rating from Ba2 to Ba1. In 2019, the net sales revenue of the HSE group amounted to EUR 1.7 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were slightly above EUR 160 million. Net profit amounted to close to EUR 30 million, or almost three times more than in 2018.
Our own electricity production is sold to our customers in the domestic and European wholesale market, while we also trade in electricity and all its derivative and related products at energy exchanges throughout Europe. We are present in 25 European countries, including Slovenia.
With a balanced production portfolio, we represent a key pillar of the reliability of the electricity supply in Slovenia and provide a stable functioning of the electricity system and the attainment of Slovenia’s objectives in the field of renewable sources of energy. We produce 70 percent of the electricity produced from renewable sources in Slovenia. Half of the electricity produced by the HSE group is generated from renewable sources (DEM and SENG), and the other half is generated in two coal-fired generators and four gas-powered turbines in Šoštanj. We also have our own primary source of energy – lignite. We extract annually more than 3 million tonnes of coal used in the production of electricity and heating energy. We have a modern mine for underground coal excavation.
The loss generated by the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant (TEŠ) was the lowest since Generator 6 has been in operation, amounting to slightly less than EUR 20 million. This proves that the HSE group is capable of managing all business challenges on its own while ensuring an undisrupted, safe and stable supply of electricity. The companies in the group operated in accordance with annual plans, with only the Premogovnik Velenje coal mine operator having some difficulties. This year, it started implementing a new strategy, which has resulted in a higher daily quantity of extracted material and a growing stock of lignite at the disposal site. Investments by the HSE group last year amounted to EUR 41 million, contributing to the higher safety and reliability of electricity production.
Director general of HSE, Stojan Nikolić, was satisfied with the confirmation of the annual report: “2019 was truly exceptional, an achievement which should be attributed first and foremost to the employees of the HSE group and their continued effort to not only reach, but to exceed, plans in all key areas, particularly in production, sales and trading. This was also a good starting point for 2020, which was, however, marked by extraordinary circumstances at the very beginning. HSE is successfully addressing these circumstances, and our operations were never at risk, and neither was the safety and reliability of the electricity supply in Slovenia.”