November 25 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian blue-chip car battery maker MonBat said on Wednesday its ten-month pre-tax profit fell 41.63% to 15.3 million levs ($11.8 million/7.8 million euro) as sales fell 37.41%.
Pre-tax profit is seen at 19.8 million levs in 2009 with sales at 125.6 million levs, the company said in a statement.
MonBat closed 2008 with a pre-tax profit of 29.4 million levs and sales of 181 million levs.
Ten-month net sales totalled 95.3 million levs, the statement said.
The company, majority-owned by Bulgarian lubricants producer Prista Oil, has subsidiaries in Romania and Serbia. It exports to Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia, generating around 85% of its total revenue abroad.
MonBat shares, part of the SOFIX index on the stock exchange in Sofia, fell 0.86% to 6.99 levs in a volume of 793 on Wednesday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)