September 28 (SeeNews) - Romanian integrated dairy company Agroserv Mariuta [BSE:MILK], operating under the brand name Laptaria cu Caimac, said that its net loss narrowed by 71% year-on-year to 398,573 lei ($84,600/80,100 euro) in the first half of 2023.
The dairy producer’s turnover rose 23% on the year to 36.3 million lei in the first six months of 2022, Agroserv Mariuta said in a financial report filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
“The year 2023 promises to be better than last year for Agroserv Mariuta, on the one hand, thanks to volume growth […] and the development of our product offering and distribution points, but also due to the fact that despite the challenging backdrop of persistent inflation, customers continued to choose our products,” Cornel Danila, general manager at Agroserv said.
The company’s operating income increased by an annual 15% to 59.8 million lei in the January-June period, while its operating expenses rose by 11% to 57 million lei. As a result, the operating profit almost quadrupled to 2.8 million lei.
Agroserv’s net result was ultimately dragged into negative territory by financing costs, which increased by 53% on the year to 3.2 million lei in the six months through June.
Total milk production rose by an annual 7% to 7.6 million litres in the first half of this year.
Total assets stood at 168.1 million lei at the end of June, growing by 8% since the end of last year. Total debts increased by 11% since the end of 2022, to 132.2 million lei at the end of June.
Agroserv is optimistic that the start of the autumn season will lead to good sales for the rest of the year, allowing it to recover the loss posted in the first half of 2023.
Founded in 1994, Agroserv Mariuta launched its cow milk processing division along with its Laptaria cu Caimac brand in 2018.
At the end of June, Agroserv had 219 employees.
Agroserv shares traded 0.3% lower at 6.7 lei as at 0926 CET on Thursday on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.9743 lei)