May 18 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian state-owned ammunition manufacturer VMZ Sopot completed а 7 million lev ($4 million/3.6 million euro) upgrade of two of its industrial units, the country's economy ministry said.
"VMZ Sopot's financial position is stable and the plant has contracts until 2018, which provides certainty and confidence for its future," Bulgaria's economy minister Bozhidar Lukarski said in a press release on Tuesday.
The company has repaid debts of over 22 million levs to Sopot's municipality and to the National Revenue Agency.
On May 5, VMZ Sopot said that by end-2016 it will execute orders for about 250 million levs. A day earlier, Bulgaria's government said it would prohibit the privatisation of VMZ Sopot, as the company is an important part of the country's national security and its economy.
In 2015, VMZ Sopot's net profit sharply increased to 24.7 million levs from just 265,000 levs a year ago. For the first quarter, the company's net profit reached 37.4 million levs, reversing a net loss of 1.6 million levs in the same period last year.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)