March 29 (SeeNews) - Steel radiator manufacturer Korado Bulgaria [BUL:4KX], part of Czech Republic-based Korado Group, said on Tuesday that its audited net profit in 2021 increased 3.7% to 4.76 million levs ($2.7 million /2.4 million euro) on record revenue and forecast no significant interruptions to its supply chain in the context of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
Korado Bulgaria's revenue jumped 49% last year to roughly 59.1 million levs, the company said in a statement.
Sales grew 13% to 600.9 million levs in the review period, marking increases in both steel panels and bathroom radiators.
Company sales declined in Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria, offset by sales growth in Hungary, Tunisia, Greece and Cyprus, with parent company channels accounting for a 20% increase as central and western Europe recovered better than eastern European markets.
The strategy of diversifying away from eastern Europe markets is not a recent development due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was undertaken in the late 1990s and confirmed with the financial crisis of 2008, Korado Group CEO Vojtech Chamek said.
"The lesson was hard as we lost in both cases so to speak overnight 50% of our sales. We survived but completely adjusted our business model," Chamek said.
Eastern Europe now accounts for less than 3% of the group's sales, against close to 50% formerly.
"There are tariffs imposed on deliveries from Russia and we did not purchase any steel from Ukraine in recent times," the company added to explain why it expects no notable interruptions in future supplies.
Korado Bulgaria is proposing a total dividend of 0.29 levs per share, of which 0.10 per share has already been paid out.
Shares in Korado Bulgaria were trading 2.17% higher at 7.05 levs apiece as at 1259 CET on Tuesday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)