20th Aug 2015 06:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock Spirits Group PLC Thursday reported a huge drop in pretax profit in the first half of 2015 as it suffered from disruption to its business in Poland, but said it is working to turn that part of the business around through "premiumisation" of the portfolio.
The Central Europe-focused drinks distributor reported a drop in pretax profit in the six months ended June 30 to EUR1.96 million from EUR19.51 million in the first half of 2014, as revenue fell to EUR108.0 million from EUR137.7 million.
Stock Spirits said that ongoing market disruption in Poland involving the supply chain and aggressive competitor pricing led to a very poor first quarter, although this improved in the second quarter as the company focuses on turning the business in Poland around by upgrading core brand packaging and new product development.
The other markets performed in line with expectations, Stock Spirits said.
Stock Spirits will pay an interim dividend of EUR0.0125.
"In line with our strategy we remain committed to managing for value and margin rather than chasing uneconomic volume market share and therefore continue to focus on new product development, premiumisation of the portfolio and effective customer and channel management. Whilst there are risks facing the business from continuing aggressive competitor pricing and erratic customer ordering patterns, we currently believe that our full-year Ebitda will be within the range of EUR60 million to EUR68 million," the company said in a statement.
"Having come through a very difficult period, we have put the building blocks in place to ensure that the group is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities available in the Central and Eastern European region and the improved trading conditions we experienced in quarter two have continued into the start of quarter three. We continue to view the future with confidence," Stock Spirits added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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