October 30 (SeeNews) - Steel radiator manufacturer Korado Bulgaria [BUL:4KX], part of Czech Republic's Korado Group, said on Tuesday that its net profit rose to 5.5 million levs ($3.2 million/2.8 million euro) in the first nine months of the year from 4.2 million levs in the same period of 2017, following an increase in revenue.
Following the announcement, Korado Bulgaria shares opened 2.99% higher at 6.9 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
Korado Bulgaria's total operating revenue grew to 34 million levs in the January-September period from 32.4 million levs in the comparable period of last year, the company said in an interim financial report.
The company's operating expenses remained relatively unchanged at 28.2 million levs in the review period.
Korado Bulgaria sold 407,992 units in the review period, only 2% of which on the local market. The company sold 434,354 units in the corresponding period of 2017.
The company produced 352,987 steel panel radiators in the period under review, slighly up from 352,975 the year before, following a strong increase in output in the third quarter. Korado Bulgaria produced 131,370 panel radiators in July-September alone, compared to 121,231 radiators in the same quarter of 2017.
Korado Bulgaria also said it has produced 63,630 towel rail radiators in the nine months through September, without providing comparative data for the prior-year period. The company's interim reports from last year show that its towel rail radiators output was significantly higher in the first nine months of 2017 - 87,410 units.
Earlier this month, Vojtech Chamek, CEO of Korado Group, said in an interview for the TOP 100 SEE 2018 that the group sees strong growth potential in the segment of bathroom and towel radiators, where it plans to expand its production capacity.
At the end of September, Czech-based Korado held an 82.56% stake in Korado Bulgaria.
Korado Bulgaria was registered in 1998 when the Czech company acquired 98.2% of the originally German-Bulgarian steel radiators production plant in Strazhitsa, in northern Bulgaria. The plant exports its output to the markets of Romania, Ukraine, France, Hungary and Bosnia.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)