August 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian farming group Agria Group Holding [BUL:AGH] said that its consolidated net profit soared to roughly 46 million levs ($23.7 million/23.5 million euro) in the first half of 2022 from 14.5 million levs in the same period of last year, on the back of a significant revenue rise.
Agria Group Holding's operating revenue increased to 329.7 million levs in the first six months of the year from 133.5 million levs a year earlier, the company said in an interim financial statement on Thursday.
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The group's operating expenses were also on the rise, reaching 281.1 million levs in the January-June period from 116.5 million levs in the comparable period of 2021, chiefly due to a surge in the book value of assets sold coupled with higher expenses on materials and salaries.
In June, the agricultural group's shareholders approved the proposed distribution of a gross dividend of 0.367 levs per share or a total of 2.5 million levs, which comprises the 2021 net profit of 2.09 million levs and a part of the undistributed net profit for 2020.
Last month, Agria Group acquired domestic oilseed and vegetable oils trader AgriVia Oil to advance its long-term strategy of boosting processing and export activities. Earlier in August, Agria Group increased AgriVia's capital by subscribing for 4 million new shares priced at 1 lev apiece.
The company, which has seen its stock value soar by 150% in the past 12 months, has a market capitalisation of 203.3 million levs.
Shares in Agria Group closed flat at 29.90 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday, prior to the publication of the interim financial report.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)