Blagoevgrad Plant's Profit Down

Source from:  tr.itsmyiq.com Sep 25, 2008 09/26/2008

Bulgaria's largest cigarette-making plant, Blagoevgrad BT, is expecting to make a net profit of about BGN15 million in 2008, about half the amount it made in 2007. The factory's output had remained the same but the profit had been squeezed by higher excise taxes imposed under Bulgaria's EU accession agreement, according to the deputy director of the plant, Lili Ivanova. The plant made a loss of BGN5.5 million during the first quarter of 2008 as a result of higher excise taxes imposed at the beginning of the year but, during the past three months, it has registered a profit of BGN10 million. The tobacco industry and consumers will suffer the effects of further tax increases due at the beginning of 2009 and 2010. Blagoevgrad is said to be working at full capacity and, so far this year, has produced about 650 million cigarettes for the Bulgarian market and 400 million for export. Its filter unit is supplying filters to the Sofia BT cigarette factory. Bulgaria's state-owned tobacco producer, Bulgartabac, sold its two factories in the southern cities of Plovdiv and Stara Zagora in June and concentrated all of its operations in its two remaining plants in Sofia and Blagoevgrad. Enditem