March 1 (SeeNews) - Bosnian brewer Banjalucka Pivara [BANJ:BLPV-R-A] said its net profit dropped slightly to 6.1 million marka ($3.3 million/3.1 million euro) in 2016 from 6.2 million marka a year earlier.
Total revenue edged up 0.2% to 45.7 million marka in 2016, while the revenue from the sale of products and goods amounted to 44.9 million marka, up 2.4% on the year, Banjalucka Pivara said in a financial statement filed with the Banja Luka Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
The company's total sales volume grew 3.0% on the year to 474,000 hectiolitres in 2016.
Despite volume growth, 2016 was a challenge for Banjalucka Pivara due to a 25% increase in excise tax, which it was obliged to impose on all of its products after on January 1 it became classified as a large brewery producing over 400,000 hectolitres of beer per year.
"2016 proved to be an eventful year for the company where, despite many external threats and constant change in the beer market, Banjaluka Pivara succeeded in maintaining volume and market share", the brewery's director, Nicholas Penny, said in a statement.
He explained that the brewery also faced challenging competition in 2016 which forced it to increase marketing investment, and a growing price sensitivity of consumers. Luckily, raw material prices fell.
"The company has been fortunate in the last few years to benefit from falling unit raw material prices, which has helped to decrease the pressure on margins, especially since we were not able to increase selling prices to make up for other increased costs", Penny said.
The outlook for 2017, he noted, is similar to 2016; the business is stable but future growth will be more and more difficult to achieve.
Banjalucka Pivara is located in the Serb Republic, one of the two entities that form Bosnia. The other is the Federation.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bosnian marka)