October 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's second-largest lead and zinc smelter OTZK on Monday reported a net profit of 21.2 million levs ($16.2 million/11.3 million euro) for the first nine months of 2007, 2.4 times higher than a year earlier, as sales nearly doubled.
OTZK's majority owner, Bulgarian metals group Intertrust, said earlier this year it expected OTZK's net profit to reach 20 million levs in 2007 on the back of a global rise in metal prices.
Following are details from OTZK's preliminary financial report filed with the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), where the company is listed (in millions of levs):
|
|
9-mo'07 |
9-mo'06 |
2006 (audited) |
| NET PROFIT |
21.229 |
8.697 |
15.282 |
| SALES REVENUE |
186.834 |
102.496 |
153.880 |
| TOTAL REVENUE |
190.354 |
104.645 |
157.205 |
| TOTAL COSTS |
169.125 |
95.948 |
140.354 |
The average prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) were $3,448.81 per tonne of zinc and $2,368.54 per tonne of lead in the first nine months of the year, compared to $2,965.88 and $1,177.28 a year earlier, OTZK said in a statement.
OTZK produced 9,611 tonnes of lead through September, compared to 8,045 tonnes a year earlier. The smelter produced 20,288 tonnes of zinc for the first nine months of the year, up 8.7% on the year.
Shares in OTZK last traded at 0850 GMT at 110.99 levs, down 1.6% from the previous close.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)