Bulgarian Cigarette Factory Slantze Targets 5.0% Market Share by End-2008

Slantze has already produced 200 tonnes of cigarettes since relaunching operations earlier this month, seeking to capture a market share of 4.0%-5.0% by the end of this year and to double it in 2009, the company’s executive director Stefan Slavov told a news conference.

The company will post profit this year if it manages to sell the cigarettes it has produced so far, Slavov said but declined to give profit forecasts.

Slantze competes on the market with former tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac and international majors like Philip Morris and BAT.

The company has launched a new cigarette brand, Armeec, produced under a 10-year licence agreement with the namesake insurance company owned by industrial conglomerate Chimimport.

Bulgartabac sold 78.18% of Slantze for 18.2 million levs ($12.1 million/9.3 million euro) to Chimimport-linked Business Centre Izgrev earlier this year. Business Centre Izgrev now holds 91.24% of the cigarette factory.

The new owner will launch a buyout bid next year but it does not plan to delist the company, Slavov said. Slanze stock last traded on November 18 at 9.0 levs, down 10%.

Slantze has invested 120,000 euro in the development of the new brand and plans to invest up to 600,000 levs into upgrade and modernisation next year. All investments will be financed with own funds, Slavov said.

He added that by the end of March Slantze will be ready to introduce new brands on the market.

The factory is based in southern Bulgarian town of Stara Zagora. It can produce some 4,000 tonnes of cigarettes annually.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)