BIP to register loss in amount of 434m RSD in first half of year 2008

The Belgrade Beer Industry announced that it planned to register loss in amount of 434m RSD in the first half of the year due to large costs of social program and expenses for malt factory "Čačak".

According to the six-month business plan, the Belgrade Beer Industry (BIP) should register 639.1m RSD worth of incomes and the expenses in amount of 1.1 billion RSD prior to June 30th.

That brewery ended year 2007 with loss worth 849.9m RSD, while the incomes amounted to 1.4 billion RSD.

The consortium made of "Alita" from Lithuania and Swedish "United Nordic Beverages" bought 51.9% of stocks BIP for 21.4m EUR on the auction organized by the Privatization Agency at the end of July 2007. Other stockholders have less than 2.5% each.

The consortium offered severance pays in amount of 250 EUR per year of work to all workers who decide to leave that company, and 350 of total of 900 workers of the factory accepted that offer.

Company "AB Alita" deals with export of beer, wine, cocktails, spirits and juices and it is one of the largest manufacturer of drinks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Its turnover in 2006 amounted to 41m EUR, while its net profit reache 5.1m EUR.

"United Nordic Beverages" deals with investing of private capital in the countries from the Baltic region, and it is present on the markets of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland and USA.

The price of stock of BIP on the Belgrade Stock Exchange amounted to 155 RSD on May 27th. During the last three months, the price of stocks ranged between 130 and 200 RSD. BIP has 9.1m stocks, which are subjects of trading since February 16, 2007, and the market value of the company is 1.4 billion RSD.