May 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian state-owned arms trader Kintex said that its net profit grew to 21.6 million levs ($12.4 million/11.0 million euro) in 2018 from 16.5 million levs the year before, despite a drop in revenue.
The company's total revenue lost 23% to 256.4 million levs last year, as net sales erased 25% to 240.9 million levs, Kintex said in an annual financial statement.
Kintex cut its expenses by 26% to 232 million levs in 2018, following a similar decrease in cost of goods sold, which amounted to 171.5 million levs.
In a separate financial statement, Kintex said that its net profit nearly halved to 4.7 million levs in the first quarter of 2019 from 8.6 million levs in the same period of 2018.
The company's total revenue plunged 77% to 15.8 million levs in the first three months of the year, due to a decrease in sales. Total expenses fell to 10.6 million levs in the January-March period of 2019 from 58.7 million levs in the comparable period of 2018.
Kintex, established in 1966, became a joint stock company wholly owned by the state in 1992. Kintex is specialized in exports of products manufactured by Bulgarian defence and machine-building industries.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)