Bulgarian River Shipping Co BRP Raises 8.3 Mln Euro in Cap Hike

The company has sold its entire offer of 6,749,999 new shares, it said in a statement without elaborating. In October BRP said it will seek to increase its capital with 6.750 million new shares with a par value of 1.0 lev each and an issue price of 2.4 levs.

BRP is part of Bulgarian largest industrial group, Chimimport (www.chimimport.bg), which paid 22 million levs to acquire the river shipping business in 2006.

BRP (www.brp.bg), set up in 1935, posted a 3.3 million levs net profit through June, up 6.5% on the year, as sales rose 28% to 29.7 million levs. In 2008, it had net earnings of 4.31 million levs, up from the 3.228 million lev profit it recorded a year earlier.

The company set up a transportation and spedition services unit in Slovakia earlier this year as part of its expansion plans.

No shares of BRP changed hands on Tuesday on the Sofia bourse. Its stock closed 2.7% lower at 1.8 levs in volume of just four shares on Monday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)