Russia’s largest brewer, Baltika, has posted a 1Q 2009 Net Profit of 2.52 billion Roubles under IFRS.

The bottom line is up 18.5% year on year, with EBITDA rising 21% to 5.08 billion Roubles, on the back of a 5% increase in sales to 17.74 billion Roubles.

The impressive financials came despite a 5% drop in sales volumes with Baltika hailing the contributions from efficiency programmes in logistics production and agricultural operations, and claiming that these would provide further productivity gains and enable the company to face the future with confidence.

The company says that the beer market has been more resilient than other sectors of the economy in the face of the economic slowdown, despite a contraction of more than 7% year on year in terms of overall beer sales. Baltika Breweries President, Anton Artemiev noted the company bettered the industry wide result, and looked to some improvement in market conditions ahead.

"Regardless of the current 7% decline in beer market in Q1, we keep our forecast for the full year market slowdown around -2%, based on our expectations of some improvement in consumption trends going forward. In spite of the unfavourable background in Q1, the Company remains resilient and is demonstrating growth in profit and in profit margins."