November 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian blue-chip battery producer MonBat has raised its profit and sales forecasts for the 2007-2009 period and expects the 2009 net profit to be six times higher than its 2006 earnings thanks to a nearly treble rise in sales, the company said on Thursday.
MonBat has increased its net profit forecast for 2007 to 8.5 million euro ($12.4 million) from the previous projection of 7.7 million euro and expects earnings to rise to 16.1 million euro in 2008 and 23.5 million euro in 2009, the company said in a filing to the stock exchange in Sofia. The company more than doubled its net profit last year, to 3.9 million euro.
It expects its 2007 sales to rise 68% from last year to 67.5 million euro. Its sales are seen at 87.7 million euro in 2008 and at 114.1 million euro in 2009.
MonBat expects its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to grow to nearly 12 million euro this year, reach 20.3 million euro in 2008 and rise to 28.9 million euro in 2009. Its EBITDA rose 45% to 7.4 million euro last year.
The company, based in Montana, northwestern Bulgaria, plans to reach a capacity of 2.55 million start-up batteries, from 1.2 million now, and double its output of telecommunications and stationary batteries to 200,000 by 2009. The company also plans to install a new production line at its manufacturing plant Start which is expected to reach production of 750,000 units in 2010.
Earlier this year, the company said it will invest 21.75 million euro over the next two years to improve its competitiveness and become one of the top five battery companies in Europe. It also plans to build battery recycling plants in neighbouring Serbia and Romania in order to secure raw materials for its production.
Shares in MonBat, which floated its shares on the stock market earlier at the beginning of the year, ended 1.29% lower on Thursday at 30.6 levs ($23/15.7 euro) in a volume of 9,440 stocks.
($ = 0.6838 euro)