Slovenia's Petrol expects profit to rise 40 pct by 2020 (updated)

Petrol dd Ljubljana

17/06/2016 10:49

(Adds quote, details, share price) 
    LJUBLJANA, June 17 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Petrol  PETG.LJ  
expects its group net profit to rise to 97 million euros by 
2020, up 40 percent from its target for 2016, the largest fuel 
retailer said on Friday. 
    It said it expects sales to reach 4.3 billion euros ($4.8 
billion) in 2020, up from 3.7 billion seen this year. 
    The company confirmed its 2016 target made in December for 
profit this year to rise to 69 million euros from 65 in 2015 
although sales are expected to fall by about 100 million euros, 
mainly due to lower fuel prices.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1400TD 
    "Our vision for the year 2020 commits us to become a leading 
regional player in energy and energy-related services in terms 
of revenue," the company said. 
    It plans to increase the number of fuel stations to 527 by 
the end of 2020 from 487 at the end of the last year. Petrol 
operates stations in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, 
Bosnia and Kosovo. 
    Shares of Petrol gained 0.23 percent to 256.1 euros by 0930 
GMT, after the forecast was released, while the blue-chip SBI 
index  .SBITOP  gained 0.05 percent. 
($1 = 0.8889 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by Jason Neely and Elaine 
Hardcastle) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: PETROL SLO ENERG OUTLOOK/