Alcohol, Baltic Export, Good for Business, Latvia, Markets and Companies

Domestic turnover in the first quarter has increased by 1.1%. Export turnover in the Baltic States showed a decline, but increased significantly in other direct export countries.

The company informs that is has continued the implementation of the pre-defined export strategy in the key markets and maintained the previous sales volumes to our core customers.

The most significant increase in sales was achieved in such important markets as Russia – 39%, and Germany – 38%. During the first quarter of 2013, the main focus markets were the Baltic States, Russia, Germany and Scandinavia. Meanwhile, new export markets were actively acquired, for example, China.

The company's un-audited profit for the reporting period reached LVL 449,000, which represents 43% growth versus the first quarter of 2012. The result was achieved through focused development of the beverage portfolio.

''As one of the priorities of this year, the company will focus on the production of new and competitive products for domestic and export markets. Latvijas balzams will continue to implement targeted export strategy based on the growth in our defined key markets. Our priorities for 2013 also including further control of production and logistics costs, optimization and improvement of production efficiency, increasing the competitiveness of the company,'' the company's chairman of the board Guntis Aboltins-Abolins pointed out.

Latvijas balzams is the leading producer of alcoholic beverages in the Baltic States, and produces over 100 different kinds of alcoholic drinks. The company's products can be found in more than 160 countries.

The major shareholder of Latvijas balzams is SPI Regional Business Unit BV which owns 89.53% of the company’s equity capital.

During the first quarter of 2013, Latvijas balzams paid LVL 11.3 million to the state budget, including excise tax, amounting to LVL 8.4 million.