July 23 (SeeNews) - Croatian food, beverage and drug producer Podravka [ZSE:PODR] said on Monday its first-half consolidated net profit surged to 120.7 million kuna ($19.1 million/16.3 million euro) from 24.8 million kuna in the same period last year.
The jump in profit was the result of sales growth in the profitable product range, with simultaneous control of the operating expenses, Podravka said in a Zagreb bourse filing.
Consolidated sales revenue rose by an annual 4.3% to 2.04 billion kuna in January-June on the back of robust growth in the food segment, which was boosted by strong sales-marketing activities and the expansion of the distribution of individual categories.
The food segment achieved 1.60 billion kuna in sales revenue, up 3.7% on the year, while Podravka's other business segment, pharmaceuticals, saw a 6.4% growth in revenue to 432.8 million kuna.
When it comes to sales revenues of Podravka Group by regions, the highest relative rate of increase of 10% was marked in Central Europe, where the company recorded revenue of 247.7 million kuna. Eastern Europe followed with sales growth of 9.7% to 147.2 million kuna.
In the Adria region, Podravka's largest market, the group booked sales revenue of 1.4 billion kuna, up 3.4% on the year, while Western Europe and Overseas Markets recorded 1.2% growth to 215.4 million kuna.
Podravka suffered a sales drop of 5.7% in the New markets segment to 16.4 million kuna.
Podravka's consolidated EBITDA soared 74% to 243.5 million kuna, while cash capital expenditures dropped 45.2% to 67.4 million kuna.
(1 euro=7.39564 kuna)