Slovenia's Petrol 2013 net profit falls 2 pct (updated)

Petrol dd Ljubljana

14/03/2014 07:45

* Profit seen up at 65 mln euros in 2014 * Sales seen unchanged at 3.94 bln in 2014 (Adds details, background) LJUBLJANA, March 14 (Reuters) - Slovenia's largest fuel retailer Petrol  PETG.LJ  said its group net profit in 2013 fell 2 percent to 52.8 million euros ($735.38 million)from 53.9 million a year before due difficult economic conditions and a negative impact of currency risks. It said profit is expected to rise to 65 million euros in 2014 while sales will remain unchanged from 2013 at 3.94 billion euros. The company had sales of 3.8 billion in 2012. Petrol also said it expected profit and sales to grow in the medium-term, with profit reaching 93 million euros in 2018 and sales rising to 4.4 billion euros in that year. It plans to raise the number of filling stations to 526 by 2018. Petrol now operates 476 filling stations in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo. ($1 = 0.7180 Euros) (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by William Hardy) ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com)(+386-8-2056369)(Reuters Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SLOVENIA PETROL/