CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS

Welcome to the website of Kovintrade Group on behalf of the Management Board and the employees of the Group.

The Kovintrade Group was established in 1991. And today, we are still young, successful, ambitious and looking into the future with high goals. We have developed into a recognisable, specialised and commercially successful international trading company under Slovenian ownership. Business is becoming increasingly internationalised, with the most important strategic areas of trading being those of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, metallurgical products, energy management, heating and cooling technology as well as construction machinery.

The Kovintrade Group consists of the parent company Kovintrade Mednarodna trgovina d.d. Celje, which is commercially active in Slovenia and abroad with its six divisions specialised with regard to their programmes and markets, and of a network of subsidiaries and representation offices in 13 countries of the EU, in the Commonwealth of Independent States and in eastern and southeastern Europe (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine). We trade with 5,500 customers and 1,500 suppliers in fifty countries of the world.

Our widespread foreign trade network is being continuously strengthened and expanded, and by our investment activity the quality warehousing and logistics are being developed, particularly in the field of ferrous metallurgy. Our greatest investment so far is the modern warehouse centre for ferrous metallurgy in Štore near Celje, which covers 10,000 sqm and has a storage capacity of 15,000 tonnes of metallurgic products. In Frydlant, Czech Republic a warehouse centre for ferrous metallurgy covering 7,500 sqm was built. In Jesenice, NW Slovenia, our centre for metal sheet tailoring is in operation.

In the Kovintrade Group we have, despite the highly competitive environment, managed to develop a recognisable, reliable and commercially successful international trading company. By our expert knowledge of markets and building of quality business relations we are able to offer to our business partners a high degree of added value.

Slovenia's membership in the European Union offers a wealth of opportunities, of which we are making full use. We thus view our joint European path with optimism and do not shut our eyes to business challenges involved or to the keen competition we are up against. Our experience is drawn from the rich tradition of our environment, and we are motivated by our current successes as well as inspired by our ambitious vision of the future. Our plans are built on our professional, capable, honest and conscientious associates at home and abroad, on teamwork and on quality attitude towards all business partners.

Kovintrade has been during all these years inseparably connected to Celje as well as to the entire Slovenian space in the economic, cultural and sports areas, and it continues to successfully apply its development vision and the mission of its hometown Celje, the Town of Princes, to international flows of trade.

The Kovintrade Group shall in the future continue to perform and improve its performance under its slogan "Partner of knowledge and confidence".

Iztok Senicar

Chairman of Management Board