January 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian diversified group Bulgartabac Holding [BUL:57B] is closing down its cigarette factory in Blagoevgrad, in the southwest of the country, local media reported.
The management of Bulgartabac Holding has given the factory workers two days to submit voluntary leave requests, state-run radio BNR reported late on Friday.
The factory employs some 200, according to BNR.
In December, Bulgartabac Holding said that its consolidated net profit, excluding minority interest, fell sharply to 8.1 million levs ($4.7 million/4.1 million euro) in the January-September period of 2018 from 43.1 million levs in the same period of 2017.
The group's operating revenue declined to 272.4 million levs in the first nine months of 2018, compared to 475.0 million levs in the comparable period of last year, despite the fact that it sold financial assets worth 31.4 million levs during the review period versus none a year earlier, figures from Bulgartabac Holding's interim financial statement showed.
In 2017, British American Tobacco (BAT) purchased Bulgartabac's leading cigarette brands in a deal worth more than 100 million euro.
In 2016, Bulgartabac shut down its cigarette factory Sofia-BT due to a sharp decrease in orders.
Bulgartabac Holding shares last traded on the Sofia stock exchange on Thursday, closing flat at 15.5 levs.
In July, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange decided to move Bulgartabac Holding to its BaSE alternative market over the company's failure to disclose regulated information.
(1 euro=0.95583 Bulgarian levs)