Korado Bulgaria H1 profit down 67% y/y, to skip dividend

Korado Bulgaria's revenue declined by an annual 43% to 17.9 million levs in the January-June period, the company said in an interim financial statement.

The volume of first-half sales shrank 38% year-on-year to 162,148, the statement also showed.

"Although the company underwent a significant decline in sales and profit, the results for the first 6 months of the year are better than
the highly conservative expectations of the company's management," Korado Bulgaria noted. The company pointed to the difficulties in the European construction sector resulting from the high interest rates, strict mortgage terms, inflation, energy crisis and geopolitical issues as well as to the next stage in industrial upheaval as demonstrated in competitors' curtailed operations.

To alleviate the interest burden amid rising interest rates, the company's management has decided not to distribute a half-year dividend so as to reduce indebtedness, Korado Bulgaria also said.

Last month, shareholders approved the distribution of the remaining half, or 0.10 levs per share, of the overall gross dividend for 2022 in the amount of 2.64 million levs, or 60% of last year's profit.

Shares in Korado Bulgaria last traded on Thursday on the Sofia bourse, when they closed flat at 4.90 levs.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)