SLOVENIA An economic and business profile

March 2010

Lake Bled Logarska dolina National Park Ljubljana – the Capital City

Basic infoIndependent since 1991 (part of Austrian Empire until 1918, then part of Yugoslavia)Revolving door of Europe: bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary and CroatiaAlpine and Mediterranean(Port of Koper)2 mln people, half the size of the NLAn EU, NATO, Schengen and Eurozone countryDaily flights to Slovenia from Amsterdam, Brussels and Frankfurt

...and with special link with the Netherlands:

in 1920’s more than 4,000 Slovenian mine-workers settled in Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf and Brunssum (Limburg)a small community with links with Slovenia still existsSlovenian pilgrims to Maastricht St Servacius in the Middle-Ages

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•

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A small, but open and export oriented economy

political and economic stability (shares 9th place with Finland on Global Peace Index list)an € country2008: 90% of EU-27 average GDP (PPP)average GDP growth 4%+ (1995 –2008)export = 70% of GDP = 19.8 billion € (2008)excellent geographic location:

within one hour flight to 450 mlncustomersspring-board to South-Eastern Europe (Western Balkans)bordering Austria and northern Italy, close to Bavaria

skilled, hard-working labour, versed in languagesaverage gross monthly salary (2008): € 1390high social standard (ranks 29th worldwide on Human Development Index) and low social inequality 26th on the list of the world's least corrupted countries (Transparency Int.) – Slovenia ranks higher than at least 4 Western European countries20th on the global Prosperity Index 2009excellent infrastructure

Slovenian export: EU oriented, but South-east Europe and Russia specialists

BRIC 4%

Other 9%

EU 70%

South-East Europe 17%

China 7%

India 5%Brazil 3%

Russian Federation 85%

Top 10 export markets (2009)

18,0%

12,0%

9,0% 8,0%7,0%

4,0% 4,0% 4,0%3,0% 3,0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Germany Italy France Austria Croatia Serbia Russianfederation

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Poland Hungary

Goods and services we sell:

Vehicles and automotive (parts).Pharmaceutics (generic) and chemicals.

Production at Revoz, Novo mesto Production at Krka, Novo mesto

Goods and services we sell:

Transport & logistic services (motorway grid, Port of Koper, Adria Airways).

Viaduct Črni Kal Port of Koper

Goods and services we sell:Kitchen appliances (GORENJE – ATAG)Retail tradeEngineering in energetics, road infrastructure and automatics

Futuristic kitchen Gorenje

Ora

Ito

Goods and services we sell:Tourism (Alpine, spa and sea resorts; 11.9% GDP).Construction industry.

Skiing at Krvavec PiranTerme Portorož

Netherlands (our 13th most important export market) :Slovenia (our 7th most important import market)

Slovenia sells:Adria Mobil motor-homes and caravansRENAULT carsTomos bromfietsenalumminiumelectrical goodsclothingcar tyrespharmaceuticalsEUR 250 mln in 2009

The NL sells:truckslive animalsfruit and vegetables, flowers, seeds etc.fuelchemicalspharmaceuticalscomputersEUR 550 mln in 2009

Tomos motorbikeAdria motorhome

NL : SI: who is already in the business?

DAF TrucksPhilipsUnilever (Marga B.V.)SHV HoldingsShell (Shell Adria)Dorema B.V. (HMC Beher)MKT HoldingReinshaw Int.IHC Caland

CME B.V.DeedCortjems Worldwide Movers GroupPaul Hartmann Finance b.v.Frans Maas b.v.Interplast Nederland b.v.Flower House Noordwijk

Die al in Slovenië zijn..BM 6, aug/sep. 2009: Marktentree Slovenië: Passie voor Slovenië (Juli 2009)

De Nederlandse senior relationship manager Jeroen Kok (37) en half-Sloveense advocate Maja Bole (30) startten vorig jaar het bedrijf Consultants International.

Bole: “Ten onrechte wordt Slovenië vaak gezien als onderdeel van Oost-Europa of van de Balkan. De (zaken)cultuur in Slovenië is van oudsher juist op het westen gericht. Slovenië is EU-lid en heeft de euro, dat maakt de markt heel toegankelijk.

Kok: “Slovenië is een goede mix van het westen en het zuiden, van het zakelijke en het persoonlijke. De Sloveense zakencultuur heeft veel raakvlakken met de Nederlandse manier van zakendoen. Stiptheid is belangrijk, afspraken nakomen ook. Er zijn natuurlijk ook verschillen. In Nederland vraag je een aantal offertes op en kijk je naar de beste prijs/kwaliteitverhouding. Dat is in Slovenië niet anders, maar hier kiest men ook op basis van vertrouwen. Vervolgens wordt er meer onderhandeld dan wij gewend zijn, echt over alle facetten van de overeenkomst.” Waar de Slovenen nog behoefte aan hebben? “Cadeauwinkels zoals je die veel in Nederland ziet, heb je hier weinig. En bakfietsen, die zouden het ook goed doen.”

What do top companies do and how big they are?PETROL (fuel, petrol stations) 1.9 billion (sales in €) 514 employeesMERCATOR (supermarkets) 1.7 billion 12,000REVOZ (Renault) 1.2 billion 2,700MERKUR (technical goods) 913 million 2,800GORENJE (kitchen appliances) 832 million 5,500LEK (Sandoz) 738 million 3,000KRKA (pharmaceuticals) 686 million 4,500ENGROTUŠ (supermarkets) 603 million 3,400MOBITEL (mobile operator) 433 million 950ACRONI (steal) 456 million 1500Port of Koper 109 million 750

... but 99.8% of the companies are SMEs.

Corporate 20%VAT 20% / 8.5%Property Still no tax!Personal income 16% / 27% /

41%Profit repatriation 0%Capital gains 0 – 20%Social security contributions

16.1% employer22.1% employee

Tax matters

Investors: who is already there...

Cyprus

1%

Denmark

1%

Czechia

1%

Belgium

3%

United Kingdom

1%

Croatia

3%Luxembourg

4%Italy

5%

Germany

7%

France

8%

Other

4%

Netherlands

8%Switzerland

10%

Austria

44%

Renault Goodyear

Novartis Johnson Controls

San Paolo IMI Bosch-Siemens

Reiffeisen Bank Société Générale

IBM KBC

OracleSandoz (Novartis Pharma)

SchenkerBrigl & Bergmeister

DanfossDHL

Deloitte&ToucheErnst&Young

Microsoft

... and what do they do?

Financial services &

insurance; 41.3%

Retail; 13.2%Chemicals ; 11.7%

Business services &

leasing; 10.0%

Telecoms & transport;

4.0%

Pulp & paper; 3.7%

Engineering; 3.4%

Other services; 4.2%

Other manufacturing;

2.7%

Motor vehicles and

trailers; 2.3%Tyres & plastic

products; 2.8%

Financial grants scheme for investors: what is required and what do we offer

up to 30% of the total eligible investment costsmay be increased by 10% for medium-sized companies, and 20% for small companiesno tender needed for projects over 12 mln and/or particular significancein 2008: 11 grants made, 5.6 mlninvested and 721 jobs created; cumulativein 2010: 6.5 mln of grants available for foreign investors

ACTIVITY

VALUE OF

INVEST MENT

NUMBER OF NEW

JOBS

Manufacture € 1 million 25

Strategic services

€ 0.5 million 10

R & D € 0.5 million 5

Opportunities in special incentives- region of POMURJE (2010 – 2015)

20 mln EUR grants availablegrants from 50.000 to 500.000 EURup to 50% grant participation for small enterprisesDutch investmentalready there (Ocean Orchids)Potentials: tourism, thermal water, agribusiness, well-linked with central Slovenia and withHungary

www.investpomurje.eu

More room for Dutch businesses in Slovenia:

services sector (finances – more bank privatisation expected)logistics (Port of Koper, railways, hubs, regional distribution centres) –towards Central Europe and SEE and along European corridors V and X

business spring-board to South-East Europe (Slovenia top investor and banker in the region)energy (South-stream, renewables, bio-mass, electrical grid)

tourism (NL among 10 most important tourist markets; camping)

Slovenian fruit products

industries (SMEs):

food and beverages

chemical and plasticselectrical, metal and wood

automotive green-house crops cultivationconcentration in retail marketuniversity education

real estate (holiday homes and residential; last days of zero property tax)

construction, electrical and mechanical installation, engineeringrecruiting agenciesout-sourcing

INFOwww.investslovenia.orgwww.japti.siwww.sloveniapartner.comEmbassy in Den Haag: http://haag.veleposlanistvo.si/Leon.Marc@gov.si

Triglav

Soča River