Ljubljana - Mercator, Slovenia's largest retailer, recovered from last year's deep loss as it posted a net profit of EUR 12.6 million for the first nine months of the year. Sales revenue was up by almost a percent to EUR 1.63 billion, shows the group's earnings report released on Thursday.

Operating profit (EBIT) stood at EUR 57.5 million compared to an operating loss of almost EUR 28 million in the same period last year.

Normalised profit before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by almost 11% to EUR 139.3 million.

The company said sales had risen not only on the year before but were also up by 2.9% on pre-Covid 2019, on the back of strong sales in its core market in Slovenia, where sales were up by nearly 5% on the same period in 2019.

CEO Tomislav Čizmić said that after many years Mercator had succeeded in bringing the ratio of net financial debt to normalized EBITDA to below five, which indicates that the strategic decisions have yielded the right results.

"A financially solid Mercator with sound business success is not only in the best interest of the company, employees, and shareholders, but also in the best interest of the entire chain from producers to the food industry in Slovenia and in the region," he was quoted as saying.

Capital expenditure meanwhile declined by almost a tenth on the year before to EUR 20.9 million, the bulk channelled into renovation of stores.

Čizmić said that since the group was now a part of the Fortenova Grupa, it was able to "continue our strategic investments, especially the investment into the new logistics and distribution centre in Ljubljana and the update of the sales network."