November 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian farming group Agria Group Holding [BUL:A72] said on Friday that its consolidated net profit edged down to 5.3 million levs ($3.1 million/2.7 million euro) in the first nine months of the year from 5.6 million levs in the comparable period of 2017.
The company's operating revenue rose sharply to 182.9 million levs in the January-September period from 136.3 million levs in the same period of last year, Agria Group Holding said in an interim financial statement.
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The group's main clients include Glencore Grain, Cargill Bulgaria, Soufflet Negoce - France, ADM Bulgaria and others.
However, operating expenses also grew, to 177.6 million levs in the review period from 130.6 million levs the year before, due to a rise in cost of goods sold.
In August, the European Investment Bank approved a 14 million euro loan to Agria Group Holding for the construction of a port facility on the Black Sea coast, intended for storage, handling and export of agricultural produce. The project's total estimated cost is 29 million euro.
The company is currently under investigation by Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition over its failure to notify the regulator of its acquisition of 100% of local company Kehlibar in 2016.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)