Bulgarian Cigarette Maker Sofia BT Posts 9-mo Net Loss of 797,000 Euro - Table

The increase in excise duties this year dampened sales, leading to a negative financial result, the cigarette maker said in a statement.

Following are figures from Sofia BT's income statement (in millions of levs):

Sofia BT produced 3,333 million cigarettes in the nine-month period, a 6.9% increase on the year, but sold only 3,034 million, or 4.6% less than the same period a year ago.

Sofia BT is one of the two remaining cigarette factories of Bulgartabac, which is 80% controlled by the state. The holding company sold earlier this year two cigarette-making units - one based in the city of Plovdiv and the other one in Stara Zagora. It transferred their production operations to the factories in Sofia and Blagoevgrad prior to the sale.

Bulgartabac has said it would aim to sell all four cigarette mills by the end of this year. The former monopoly started to lose market share to international majors after Bulgaria joined the EU in January 2007.

Shares of Sofia BT, among the illiquid stocks on the Sofia bourse, last traded on October 21 at 50 levs, up 1.0% from their previous close on October 14.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)