Ljubljana - The Group Union Hoteli ended 2020 in the red due to the coronavirus pandemic. It posted a net loss of EUR 4.3 million after reporting EUR 4.4 million in profit the year before.

The group's revenue went from EUR 26 million in 2019 to EUR 6.1 million, while EBITDA dropped 93% over 2019 to EUR 818,000, according to the group's unaudited report.

The start to the year was optimistic, as the group saw its operations and market share grow in January and February, the unaudited business report says.

After Slovenia declared the epidemic in mid-March, hotels were forced to shut down until June, but by then the demand for hotel services had dropped drastically, the report said.

In October, hotels were forced to shut down again, but this time they were able to provide business-to-business services, which allowed for operations to remain running at a minimum.

CEO Matej Rigelnik was quoted as saying in the report that the group opened two of its hotels for student rentals in September, adding that the campaign was a huge success.

He said that Union was the only hotel company in Slovenia to avoid state loan subsidies by issuing bonds to borrow on the capital markets. This was possible due to prudent management in the past.

Rigelnik also noted that the shareholders approved a strategic change for the company, under which its real estate and hotel branches would be developed separately.