Owned by the Salzburg-based SES Spar European Shopping Centers, Spar Slovenija also increased its market share last year to an estimated 22%, which makes it the second largest grocer in Slovenia.

General manager Igor Mervič, who did not reveal how close the net profit figure is to the 2016 profit of EUR 12.2m, told the press on Wednesday that 2018 was also expected to be a successful year.

What keeps Spar Slovenija in a good shape is low indebtedness, with the ratio between debt and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) at 2:1.

The company which employed 4,601 people at the end of last year, spent relatively little on investments in 2017, EUR 22m. It did, however, open its 100th shop in Slovenia, refurbished four and opened five franchise shops.

Spar Slovenija has a total of 100 shops, 16 franchise shops and nine restaurants as we speak, Mervič said.

He announced that a new shopping mall in the Ljubljana borough of Šiška was expected to open in the autumn of 2019. The EUR 150m investment is carried out by SES, and Spar Slovenija will be its largest tenant.

The company launched an on-line shop in January, which for now only covers the Ljubljana area. The first results are good, but Spar Slovenija will wait for a few years before deciding whether to expand it.