Bulgaria's Stara Planina Hold expects 30% drop in 4-mo cons sales

The company's revenue dropped by 30% year-on-year in the first quarter, reaching 74.2 million levs, Stara Planina Hold said in a bourse filing. Last month, the group forecast an annual fall of 30% in its sales in the first three months of 2024.

The total preliminary gross profit of the company's four main subsidiaries, including hydraulic equipment manufacturer M+S Hydraulic [BUL:MSH] and machine engineering company Hydraulic Elements and Systems [BUL:HES], totalled some 5.82 million levs in the review period. Battery manufacturer Elhim Iskra [BUL:ELHM] and cosmetics producer Bulgarian Rose [BUL:ROZA] recorded preliminary losses in January-March.

Only Bulgarian Rose is projected to grow its sales revenue in the first four months of this year, by an annual 21% to 1.38 million levs. In contrast, M+S Hydraulic's sales are seen to drop by 39.4%, while HES' and Elhim Iskra's sales are expected to decline by 20.9% and 14.9%, respectively.

Shares in Stara Planina Hold last traded on Friday when they closed at 10.40 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, bourse data show.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)