The group, featuring Sij Acroni and Sij Metal Ravne as its two biggest steel mills, and food division Perutnina Ptuj, made EUR 57.4m in gross operating profit (EBITDA), which SIJ said was approximately on a par with the first half of 2017.

The group also said in a press release posted on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange website that it would release a more detailed report by the end of September.

Perutnina Ptuj, Slovenia's leading food processing company, made almost EUR 132m in net sales revenue, which is almost 7% more than in the same period last year.

A recent report has meanwhile suggested that Perutnina may soon be acquired by the French LDC group, Europe's largest poultry company.

Citing several unnamed sources, news portal Siol said its owner SIJ, which is in Russian hands, had decided to sell Perutnina. SIJ acquired it in 2015.