News roundup - Thursday, 11 May, until 3pm

NLB banking group reports EUR 120m in net profit for Q1, down 46% y/y

LJUBLJANA - The NLB banking group reported EUR 120.1 million in net profit for the first quarter of 2023, a 46% decrease year-on-year. While speaking of a strong performance in the first three months, NLB attributed the drop in profit to the March 2022 acquisition of the Slovenian subsidiary of Russia's Sberbank. The result before impairments and provisions in the first quarter grew by 101% year-on-year reaching EUR 124.8 million.

Telekom Slovenije sees quarterly profit fall by a third

LJUBLJANA - Telekom Slovenije, the telecoms incumbent, reported an 8% increase in sales revenue in the first quarter to EUR 163.2 million. Net profit, however, declined by 32% to EUR 8.2 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at EUR 54.2 million, down 4% but above plans, the company said.

Court annuls govt decision on public interest for Mokrice plant

LJUBLJANA - Environment Minister Uroš Brežan told the newspaper Večer the Administrative Court had decided that the public interest of producing renewable energy does not prevail over the public interest of nature conservation in the planned Mokrice hydro power station on the river Sava. The government will now have to decide on next steps.

Defence Committee discusses UAVs and air defence systems

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Defence Committee discussed the proposed 2023 supplementary budget for defence, which raises spending by EUR 2.7 million. Defence Ministry State Secretary Damir Črnčec said that 20% of the defence budget would go for key investments in equipment, which did not include investments in infrastructure and facilities. With the 2023 supplementary budget, defence spending is being raised from EUR 976.6 million to EUR 979.3 million.

Job vacancies up by 2% in first quarter of 2023

LJUBLJANA - A total of 23,938 job vacancies were announced in Slovenia in the first quarter of the year, which is 2% more than in the last quarter of 2022. The largest number of workers were sought in manufacturing, almost 5,000, the Statistics Office reported. At the beginning of 2023, increased demand for new workforce was recorded in most areas, with employers in commerce, for instance, announcing over 3,000 job vacancies, which is 540 more than in the previous quarter.

R2P principle discussed at international conference in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia strongly supports Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the principle it helped create as part of a group of countries 20 years ago, President Nataša Pirc Musar said as she addressed a two-day international conference termed Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice that started at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law. Pirc Musar stressed that political leaders have the moral duty and responsibility to do everything in their power and within the scope of their political influence to prevent conflicts and violence and to protect people from atrocities.

Dončić gets fourth straight All-NBA first team selection

NEW YORK, US - Slovenian Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks has been named the All-NBA first team along this year's most valuable player (MVP) Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder). This is the fourth straight first-team honour for the 24-year-old guard, whose team failed to appear in this year's NBA play-offs after three straight appearances, including the Western Conference finals last year.