Serbian Soybean Producer Sojaprotein Becej 9-mo Net Profit Doubles to 1.5 Bln Dinars (17.6 Mln Euro)

Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

Sojaprotein’s revenue in the January-September period totaled 13.2 billion dinars, as sales reached 13.1 billion dinars, Sojaprotein said in a statement to the Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX) where it is listed.

Company shares closed up 3.68% to 1,042 dinars per share in 9.2 million dinars of turnover on Thursday.

In July Sojaprotein tried to raise at least 24 million euro through a new share issue but failed to attract investor interest. The money was to go for the construction of a new soy protein isolate factory that was expected to increase the company's annual revenue by between 30 and 40 million euro and its profit by more than seven million euro.

Sojaprotein did not pay dividend for 2007 in order to strengthen its financial state ahead of the planned construction of the new factory.

The company’s net profit nearly doubled to 1.25 billion dinars last year.

(1 euro=85.2475 Serbian dinars)