News roundup - Sunday, 10 March

Warner Music acquires minority stake in Slovenian label Nika

LJUBLJANA/NEW YORK, US - Warner Music, one of the three largest global labels, has acquired a minority stake in Slovenian independent label Nika, which operates the largest Slovenian online music shop. The deal, whose details have not been revealed, is to enable Warner Music to upstream Nika's roster to its international network, the US group says on its website.

Despite a rise, Slovenia's R&D expenditure below EU average

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's gross expenditure on research and development (R&D) in 2022 increased in nominal terms for the fifth year running to reach EUR 1.2 billion, up 7.4% from 2021, while it at the same time stagnated for the third year running if the funds are measured as a share of GDP, show the latest figures released by the Statistics Office. R&D investment as a share of GDP reached 2.10% in 2022, which puts Slovenia below the EU average of an estimated 2.24% of GDP.

Slovenia records biggest drop in domestic tourism nights in EU

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Slovenia recorded a 3.5% increase in the number of tourism nights in 2023, while in the EU the increase was 6.1% in annual comparison, latest Eurostat data show. However, Slovenia saw the biggest drop in nights generated by domestic guests, which were down by 17%. This is mostly due to the fact that tourist vouchers issued in 2020 in 2021, which significantly raised the number of domestic guests post-Covid, were valid until the end of June 2022.

Lipica stud farm to sell 36 horses in 2024

LIPICA - Kobilarna Lipica, a stud farm known for its Lipizzan white horses, is planning to sell 36 horses this year, mostly those that it no longer needs for breeding or riding programmes. It expects to generate EUR 173,000 in revenue from the sale. According to the Economy Ministry, Kobilarna Lipica can sell horses with resale value and those that have been withdrawn from use because of old age or injury.

Nika Prevc takes second place in Oslo

OSLO, Norway - Slovenian ski jumper Nika Prevc finished second at the women's World Cup event in Oslo on Sunday, 2.2 points behind the winner, Eirin Maria Kvandal from Norway. Austria's Eva Pinkelnig took the third place. Ema Klinec finished fourth and Nika Križnar was 12th.

Snowboarders Košir and Kotnik finish second in Winterberg

WINTERBERG, Germany - Slovenian snowboarders Žan Košir and Gloria Kotnik finished second at a World Cup parallel slalom event, the last one this season, in Germany's Winterberg on Sunday. This is the second podium result for Slovenian snowboarding this season after Tim Mastnak finished second in parallel giant slalom in Scuol, Switzerland, in January.