Latvia: Lacplesa Alus Brewery reports losses

Lacplesa Alus Brewery has ended the last fiscal year with losses of Ls1.44 million, thus continuing the doubtful tradition of previous years, The Union of Russian Brewers released May 31.

In 2004, the brewer has suffered losses of Ls1.5 million against losses of only Ls735,000 in 2003. The 2005 brewer’s turnover has reached Ls3.4 million in comparison to Ls 4 million in 2004.

In 2005, Lacplesa Alus has marketed 2.72 million litres of beer, which represents a 5.04% share of the Latvian beer market. The company’s board has motivated the losses by the need to modernize and inject investments into production, thus profitability can be envisaged as a perspective not before the next 2-3 years.

The Danish Brewery Group acquired 83.5% of the company’s stakes in October 2004. The Scandinavian brewer has paid EUR1.2 Million for the controlling amount of shares. In addition to the Latvian brewer ongoing credit obligations, the transaction totaled EUR2.5 million.

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