ZAGREB (Croatia), July 22 (SeeNews) – Croatia's food, beverages and pharmaceuticals producer Podravka group [ZSE:PODR] said on Thursday its first-half net profit rose 22% on the year to 197.6 million kuna ($30.1 million/26.2 million euro).
The net profit of the food division reached 136.3 million kuna, up 14% on the year, while the net profit of the pharmaceuticals division surged 46% on the year to 61.3 million kuna in the six months through June, Podravka said in a filing to the Zagreb bourse citing consolidated unaudited results.
The sales revenue of Podravka group dipped 1.1% to 2.22 billion kuna. An annual decline of the sales revenue was expected compared to 2020 as a result of extraordinary orders and stock piling of additional reserves by the consumers at the end of March 2020 caused by the lockdown set due to the COVID pandemic in most of the countries where Podravka operates, the company said in the filing.
Compared to the overall sales in the first half of pre-COVID 2019, the sales revenue in the first half of 2021 was 4% higher.
Within the pharmaceuticals division, the highest annual growth rate of 4.3% was reported for prescription drugs in the January-June 2021 period.
In terms of sales by regions, sales of the food division rose 8.2% on the year in western Europe and overseas countries, while the pharmaceuticals division's highest growth rate, of 14%, was on the markets of central Europe, driven by higher sales of prescription drugs.
Podravka's shares traded at 586 kuna intraday on Thursday, up 0.34% from the previous closing price.
(1 euro=7.491 Croatian kuna)