April 28 (SeeNews) - Steel radiator manufacturer Korado Bulgaria [BUL:KBG] said on Friday that its profit before tax dropped by 88% year-on-year to 215,000 levs ($120,812/109,927 euro) in the first quarter of 2023, in line with the management's recently published conservative expectations.
Korado Bulgaria's revenue declined by an annual 52% in January-March, reaching 8.45 million levs, the company, which is part of Czech Republic-based Korado Group, said in an interim financial report.
Sales declined 48% year-on-year to 74.7 million levs in the review period.
"While the weakness in demand continues, the management board of Korado Bulgaria expects return to a more standard cycle this year, i.e. weaker first half of the year and stronger seasonal demand in the second half of the year," the company noted.
The tight monetary policy by central banks in Europe, such as high interest rates, inflation growth, the energy crisis and geopolitical issues have emerged among the stumbling blocks for the troubled construction industry across Europe, Korado Bulgaria also said.
Potential acquisitions to broaden and boost the product portfolio will be of high priority for Korado Group in the near term, the company said. Last month, Korado Bulgaria said it will propose a lower dividend in order to fund expansion.
Shareholders will vote on June 21 on the management's proposal to distribute a further gross dividend of 0.10 levs per share for 2022, with a half-year dividend of 0.10 levs already paid out.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)