16.12.2019
The ORLEN Group ends the year with 10 service stations in Slovakia
As announced, the ORLEN Group is strengthening its position on the Slovak retail market, where it already has eight service stations which offer also non-fuel products and services, and two self-service stations in the Benzina Express format. In 2020, the network will be consistently expanded with new facilities, and the existing sites will be adapted to the standards of PKN ORLEN’s Polish and Czech chains, including through the introduction of the Stop Cafe format.
“The record results of our retail segment, not only in Poland but also in the Czech Republic and Germany, demonstrate that we are highly competent in building a modern and competitive service station network. We are successfully employing our experience to expand into the Slovak market, where we have already built a solid base for further development. At our Slovak sites, operating under the combined Benzina and ORLEN brands, we sell not only fuels produced by PKN ORLEN but also Polish non-fuel products, reinforcing the Company’s position and building the perception of our country abroad,” said Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN ORLEN Management Board.
To date, the ORLEN Group’s network in Slovakia has sold nearly 3 million litres of Verva and Efecta fuels produced in the Czech refineries. The facilities offering non-fuel products and services will be successively adjusted to the network standards used in the other countries, for instance by rolling out the Stop Cafe format with a wide food service range. As in the Czech Republic, the service stations in Slovakia sell Polish products such as beverages, foodstuffs, engine oils and fluids. The Slovak network also includes two self-service Benzina Express stations offering Verva and Efecta fuels. ORLEN Group sites in Slovakia are located in Malacky, Holice, Lužianky, Šelpice, Šurany, Strečno, Tesárske Mlyňany, Senec, Banská Bystrica and Košice.
“As declared, we have achieved this year’s objective of laying the foundations for further development of the ORLEN Group’s retail network in Slovakia. More important than the number of our sites, however, are the business parameters and profitability of the stations. Even now we can see that our service stations, and the products and services they offer are highly rated by Slovak customers. Next year, will plan to acquire new facilities and ensure uniformity of standards at our existing and new sites. Within a few years, we want to be a leader of the retail market in Slovakia,” said Tomasz Wiatrak, President of the Management Board of Unipetrol, which manages the Group’s chains in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The ORLEN Group operates the largest Central and Eastern Europe’s network of over 2,800 service stations, located in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and Lithuania. The Group is consistently raising the standard of its facilities and expanding the range of its non-fuel products and services. At the end of the third quarter of 2019, 2,100 Stop Cafe and Star Connect sites operated as part of the network, including nearly 460 convenience stores under the O! SHOP brand.
