STA, 20 August 2019 - The group around insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav reported on Tuesday a EUR 34.7 million net profit for the first half of 2019, a 16% year-on-year increase. Consolidated gross premiums were up 10% to EUR 630 million and net premium income by 6% to EUR 491.8 million.

Triglav said premium growth was recorded on most of the group's markets and at levels mostly above the growth of the whole market.

In Slovenia, where Triglav Group collects 76% of consolidated premiums, average premium growth stood at 8% (market growth was 7%), while it was 10% in the markets outside of Slovenia.

Premium growth was recorded in all three insurance segments; the non-life insurance segment grew by 10%, the health insurance segment by 21% and the life and pension insurance segment by less than 1%.

Gross claims paid by the group amounted to EUR 335 million, 2% more year-on-year, while major disaster events are estimated at EUR 4.9 million. The combined ratio of the group was at 93.2%, which Triglav said was a favourable value attributable mostly to the improved claims ratio.

The Triglav group posted a pre-tax profit of EUR 41.7 million in the first half of the year, or 17% more than in the same period last year. The company attributes this to the higher growth of net premiums earned compared to the growth of net claims incurred in non-life insurance and to the higher realised return on financial investments.

The group's investment portfolio is worth EUR 3.2 billion. Triglav says "investments are managed relatively conservatively and with the aim of maintaining a high overall credit rating".

Returns on financial investments, excluding unit-linked life insurance contract investments, totalled EUR 51.4 million in the first six months of 2019. Compared to 2018, returns on financial investments were higher mostly as a result of higher net gains on the sale of financial assets and higher net income from changes in the fair value, the company said.

On the other hand, net interest income continued to decrease due to the low interest rate environment. Due to a further reduction in interest rates, additional insurance technical provisions for life insurance were made in the amount of EUR 8.6 million as a result of the liability adequacy test.

On 30 June, the group, including its subsidiaries Triglav Skladi and ALTA Skladi (acquired in 2019), held a 34.3% and thereby leading share in the Slovenian mutual fund market.

As at the reporting date, the group managed net assets worth EUR 947.8 million in mutual funds or 12% more than at the 2018 year-end. Discretionary mandate assets equalled to EUR 73.7 million, a 47% increase (index 147).

Commenting on the results, chairman Andrej Slapar said the group, employing over 5,000 in the region, "maintains a strong position and pursues its growth and development strategy".

"We are pleased with the results achieved. Taking into account the business conditions anticipated until the end of the year, we confirm our annual profit guidance," the report quotes Slapar.

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, SURS, has released figures showing that construction firms performed €2,571 million of construction work in 2018, an increase of 29% on in 2017.

Of this, €1,351 million of construction work was done on buildings (up 35% on 2017) and €1,220 million on civil engineering projects (up 23%).

Most of this construction work was performed on non-residential buildings (€906 million, or 38% more than in 2017).

You can find more about this data at SURS, while all our stories on property in Slovenia are here, while all our statistics are here

STA, 16 August 2019 - The number of compulsory car insurance policies has been showing an upward trend in the past few years due to the improved economic situation and the growth of the number of registered vehicles, with revenue from premiums being on the rise for the past three years.

Meanwhile, an analysis by the Slovenian Insurance Association indicates that in general, the value of premiums has seen a downward trend in the past decade.

Slovenian insurers dealing in compulsory car insurance sold 1,914.134 such policies last year, a 4.6% increase compared to the previous year and a record number so far, according to the Insurance Association.

Eight Slovenian insurers were selling third-party liability insurance policies in 2018. They sold a total of EUR 244.2 million premiums, up 6.6% on 2017, shows the association's data.

Stronger competition in the insurance market has resulted in lower premiums. Despite the upward trend of sold policies, the premiums have been getting cheaper in the past decade - by 2.8% per year on average.

However, the past three years saw a rise in the prices, as well as an increase in paying out damage compensation - in 2018, an increase in compensation payouts was more substantial than an increase in charged premiums.

Payouts in 2018 amounted to EUR 159 million, up 10.4% on 2017.

At the beginning of the 1990s car insurance policies accounted for the majority of Slovenia's insurance market, but since then they have been giving way to life and health insurance.

Last year car insurance policies were thus accounting for only 10% of the association members' service portfolio, representing third place among non-life insurance policies.

Motorisation has been on the rise in most EU countries since 2008, amounting to record 466 cars per 1,000 EU citizens on average in 2017.

Slovenia is placed 12th among EU countries according to its motorisation rate and above the EU average, recording record 553 cars per 1,000 Slovenians in 2018.

An average Slovenian spent more than EUR 230 in 2017 for car insurance expenses, which is above the EU average of some EUR 228 - a record figure so far.

Since Slovenia's independence the number of registered vehicles has more than doubled due to the increasing purchasing power. Almost 75% of registered motor vehicles are cars, a trend which has resulted in a decline of public transport.

STA, 16 August 2019 - Home appliances maker Gorenje, which terminated the contracts of 60 workers as part of reorganisation last month, has told the STA it was looking for about 100 new workers in production to meet increased demand.

Gorenje representative Denis Oštir said that the new workers would start already in September, would get fixed-term contracts and were needed in all of the company's production facilities in Velenje, mostly in the production of washing machines and driers.

Gorenje, which was taken over by China's Hisense last year, initially expected 270 workers would be made redundant at its parent company in Velenje, but ended up terminating a total of 60 contracts of employees working in back office jobs tied to production, such as storers and quality controllers.

Oštir told the STA that all had been offered employment in production, but only some of them accepted.

As part of reorganisational changes, which have been under way for some time, Gorenje has offered new contracts to a total of 1,393 back office employees, preserving existing wages and other rights.

Gorenje, which employs over 4,000 workers in Slovenia and abroad, recently announced that restructuring would not only be limited to the parent company and would also affect all subsidiaries and business units abroad.

The company has also announced it will build a new TV manufacturing plant that will employ 1,000 workers.

Keep up on business in Slovenia here

A 70% stake in Slovevenia’s biggest eyewear chain, the 26-branch Optika Clarus, has been purchased by Fielmann AG, a German firm that integrates design, manufacturing and retail, and is responsible for around half the spectacles sold in its home market.

Optika Clarus was founded in 1989 by Tihomir Krstič, who will keep a 30% share of the business and remain involved in its management, and there are plans to open more stores in the near future.

STA, 15 August 2019 - Slovenia's construction industry is seeing growth for the third year now. Nevertheless, it has still not returned to the levels before the crisis, while some indicators suggest that the growth trend could be reversed in the near future, finds a report by the Statistics Office.

Construction is one of the sectors that was hit hardest by the crisis ten years ago. While most of other sectors, such as industry, commerce and services, have already exceeded pre-crisis turnover, construction still lags far behind.

"After a significant fall in both the turnover and the number of employees and enterprises after 2008, growth was detected again in all three indicators after 2013, especially in 2017 and 2018," reads the statisticians' report.

While the number of construction enterprises has already reached the pre-crisis figures, with 19,220 such enterprises in 2018, the turnover and the number of employees still fall considerably short.

At the expense of the small number of workers, labour productivity increased and amounted to EUR 24,925 in 2018, exceeding the pre-crisis levels.

Construction companies generated a turnover of almost EUR 6 billion in 2018, which is almost 30% less than in 2008 and 34% more than in 2013. Almost half of the turnover was generated by specialized construction activities, 30% through construction of buildings and 21% by civil engineering.

There were 67,600 people working in the sector last year, compared 89,900 people a decade ago. 70% of the workers were Slovenian citizens and 30% foreigners. Most of the foreign workers came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by those from Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Croatia.

Among the 19,220 construction enterprises registered in 2018, micro-enterprises with up to 10 employees prevailed, representing more than 90%. Compared to 2008 there were more than a half fewer medium-sized and large enterprises, however, in this period the number of parent enterprises doubled, which means that smaller enterprises which are interconnected prevail.

Wages in the sector had been increasing until 2011, but fell somewhat between 2011 and 2015, and after 2015 increased again. Average gross monthly pay was EUR 1,290 last year, which is 12% less than in 2008 and 23% less than the national average, despite a 20% growth compared to 2017.

Data on the number of the building permits and the construction confidence indicator suggest an impending decline. The number of building permits issued declined over the past three years and the trend continues in 2019 - in the first half of this year 10% fewer building permits were issued compared to the same period in 2018.

Only the number of residential building permits is somewhat increasing, whereas the number of non-residential building permits issued is falling. Between 2016 and 2018 the surface area of buildings for which building permits were issued increased (8%), as did the number of the apartments in those buildings (by more than 19%).

In the first six months of this year the construction confidence indicator was below the average of the previous year. Expectations for contracts and jobs peaked at the beginning of 2018, but then began to fall. The only exception was the indicator assured work in hand which in the first six months of 2019 was constantly above the average of the previous year.

As limiting factors to doing business, construction companies report in particular the shortage of skilled workers, fierce competition and high labour costs.

STA, 14 August 2019 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar and his visiting Japanese counterpart Taro Kono called for a further deepening of economic cooperation between the two countries in Ljubljana on Wednesday. They also urged respect for the rule of law and for arbitration decisions, including with regard to the Adriatic and the South China Sea.

During what is the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister to Ljubljana, the pair also exchanged views on developments in Asia, in particular the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the trade dispute between the US and China, while they also discussed the situation in the Western Balkans.

Cerar and Kono, who first met on the sidelines of this year's Munich Security Conference, agreed to strengthen bilateral relations and economic ties.

"Minister Kono and I agreed that possibilities to increase trade in goods expanded vastly with the entry into force of the economic partnership agreement between the EU and Japan, but also that all the opportunities for cooperation have not been used sufficiently yet," Cerar said today.

The ministers identified the Koper port as one of the opportunities for closer cooperation with Kono telling reporters that the Slovenian port was among the first after the Suez Canal with good access to Central Europe, which made it interesting for Japanese companies.

Zunanja ministra ??Japonske in ??Slovenije o gospodarskem partnerstvu in skupnih pobudah na Zahodnem Balkanu ?https://t.co/eVw2c2jnWg pic.twitter.com/hpbIRRPzFt

— SLOVENIAN MFA (@MZZRS) August 14, 2019

While no concrete projects were discussed, Kono suggested Slovenia enhanced promotion of its business environment in Japan. His press officer Jun Saito said they welcomed seminars planned for September to inform Japanese businesses about Slovenia.

He said that it took time for Japanese companies to take a decision on cooperation, but once they did they were very loyal and were looking for long-term cooperation.

Trade between the two countries has been fairly modest, with Slovenian exports amounting to EUR 119 million in 2018 and imports to EUR 86 million, which made Japan Slovenia's 32nd largest trade partner. Still, cooperation has intensified in recent years, which is also reflected in increasing Japanese investment in Slovenia.

Economic cooperation was also in focus of a working lunch at which the two foreign ministers were joined by Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti.

New opportunities for cooperation are emerging in the field of smart networks, proton cancer therapy and electro mobility. Successful cooperation has moreover been established in the field of new physics between Slovenia's Jožef Stefan Institute and Japan's KEK.

On Tuesday, representatives of the Slovenian rehabilitation hospital URI - Soča and of Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation and Fujita Health University signed an agreement on cooperation in the development of medical therapy robots.

Vesel sem, da smo v letih, ko sem vodil @vladaRS, našli pot za investicijo #Yaskawa?? v ??. Danes sva si z @konotaromp skupaj ogledala njihovo tovarno v #Kočevje. Gre za napredno tehnologijo 21. stoletja, do leta 2023 bo zaposlenih 200 ljudi, investicija je znašala 25mio €. pic.twitter.com/c24dSCWakM

— dr. Miro Cerar (@MiroCerar) August 14, 2019

Cerar noted that Japan, with its economic and technological development, can serve as model to many countries. He is happy that the Japanese Yaskawa robotics company and Japanese multinational Sumitomo Rubber Industries launched investments in Slovenia when he served as prime minister between 2014 and 2018.

According to Kono, the Japanese companies doing business in Slovenia valued in particular its highly skilled workforce. "Many Japanese companies notice Slovenia because of its qualified labour force in information technology and high technologies."

Yaskawa opened its first European robot factory in the south-eastern town of Kočevje in April, and Cerar and Kono are scheduled to visit it today. Kono has also been received by President Pahor.

Meanwhile, the pair also discussed initiatives for deeper cooperation in the Western Balkans and Cerar thanked his counterpart for Japan's long-standing support for the Slovenian-run ITF demining fund.

Also discussed were the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the ambassador of the House of Slovenia will be Miro Cerar senior, the winner of a golden medal in gymnastics at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry announced.

The athlete's son, Foreign Minister Cerar, also highlighted today the alley of 300 cherry trees outside the Ljubljana Biology Centre that were given to Slovenia as a present in 1999, which he said was a special symbol of friendship between the two countries.

Pahor's office reported that the Japanese foreign minister thanked the Slovenian president for his decision to attend the enthronement ceremony for Japanese Emperor Naruhito in the autumn.

The office also noted Pahor's working visit to Tokyo in 2013 in what was the first visit by a Slovenian head of state in Japan. On the occasion, he was received by the then Emperor Akihito.

According to the president's office, Pahor and Kono hailed the friendship between the two countries and good political, cultural, economic and scientific links between them. Pahor also welcomed Japanese investment in Slovenia, a country that he said made a suitable gateway to Europe for Japanese businesses.

The Japanese foreign minister is due in Croatia later today for talks on Croatia's stint at the presidency of the EU, and bilateral relations, including economic cooperation, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said, but could not say whether opportunities afforded by Croatian ports would be discussed as well.

STA, 14 August 2019 - The value of construction works in Slovenia rose by 14.4% in the first six months of 2019 year-on-year, shows data released on Wednesday by the Statistics Office. Following a rise in May, the value of construction works decreased by 6.7% in June over the previous month.

In the first half of the year the value of works on buildings rose by 11.9%, whereas the value of works on engineering objects was up by 15.1% compared to the same period in 2018.

Compared to May, the value of works on buildings was down by 8.8% in June and of works on engineering objects by 6.4%.

The year-to-year comparison for June on the other hand shows a 5.4% overall increase for the industry. Standing out is a 9% increase for non-residential buildings, whereas the value of works on residential buildings decreased by 2.1% in June year-on-year.

More details on this data can be found here

STA, 13 August 2019 - Japanese and Slovenian partners signed two agreements in Ljubljana on Tuesday that pave the way for cooperation in development and research of robotised rehabilitation devices.

Fujita Health University signed one of the accords with the University of Ljubljana and the other with the Ljubljana-based URI Soča Rehabilitation Institute, and Toyota Motor Corporation.

The signing was attended by Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti, who praised it as a major paving stone for further cooperation between Slovenia and Japan in the field.

"Cooperation between Slovenia and Japan has seen tremendous progress in recent years," said Cantarutti, praising the agreements as an "excellent example of cooperation between science and research and business", and a new opportunity to upgrade medical rehabilitation robotics.

Bilateral cooperation was also praised by Japanese Ambassador to Slovenia Masaharu Yoshida, who noted that Fujita Health University was a leading institution in the field in Japan. The university operates Japan's largest university hospital, treating 1.83 million patients a year.

"The agreement signed today will allow us to find a common path in development of rehabilitation robots and, above all, to put them on the market," said Robert Cugelj, director general of URI Soča.

The institute's main goal is to get its expertise and technology into the real world, and sell it. "In this way we generate value added mainly for patients, both those from Slovenia and elsewhere," said Cugelj.

The head of the institute's research and development department, Zlatko Matjačić, presented two projects that formed the basis for cooperation.

One is a rehab robot to train patients how to maintain balance and movement coordination during walking, which is being developed by the Slovenian institute, and the other is a robot developed by Fujita Health University and Toyota.

These are two exoskeletal devices focusing on two different areas. "The Japanese have focused on the leg's function and support during walk, while we're focusing on the integrated function of balance and coordination," Matjačić said.

They would now like to combine their expertise, technology and experience into a now concept to help in the rehabilitation of patients after stroke.

Fujita Health University professor and president Eiichi Saitoh was happy that the university was linking with the world's leading rehabilitation institutions, expressing belief that expertise is expanded and enriched through such cooperation.

Keisuke Suga of Toyota's BR-Medicare hailed the new partnership, which said would help implement Toyota's vision of mobility for all. The department headed by Suga specializes in development and production of devices used in patient rehabilitation.

The Japanese delegation already met Health Ministry State Secretary Simona Repar Bornšek on Monday and will be received along with URI Soča officials by President Borut Pahor on Wednesday.

All our stories on Japan are here, while those on robotics are here

STA, 13 August 2019 - Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Slovenia more than doubled in the first half of 2019 to reach EUR 614.4 million. The figure is considerably higher than the EUR 242 million recorded in the same period of 2018, according to central bank data. What is more, FDI nearly doubled between June 2018 and June 2019 year-on-year.

Banka Slovenije's monthly report for June shows that FDI reached EUR 1.4 billion between June 2018 and June 2019, which is almost double the EUR 721.1 million recorded between June 2017 and 2018.

Last year, FDI in total reached EUR 1.2 billion, with the central bank pointing out that several large takeovers had taken place during this period, including the one of insurer Adriatic Slovenica by Italian Generali group, of home appliances maker Gorenje by Chinese Hisense and of poultry producer Perutnina Ptuj by Ukrainian MHP.

Slovenia's FDI abroad, on the other hand, was far lower. In the first half of 2019, reached EUR 52.6 million, a significant drop over the EUR 159.9 million in the same period of last year.

Between June 2018 and June 2019 Slovenia's FDI reached EUR 117.8 million, down from EUR 130.3 million invested between June 2017 and June 2018. Last year, Slovenia's FDI reached a total of EUR 63.3 million.