Baltika posts FY 2010 net profit of 19.2 billion Roubles

Russian brewer, Baltika, has posted a FY 2010 Net Profit of 19.2 billion roubles under IFRS.

The bottom line was down 18% year on year from the FY 2009 net profit of 23.4 billion Roubles, as revenues also fell 15% to 79.3 billion roubles from 93.7 billion roubles a year ago. The Company said in the statement that its key financials were mostly affected by increased excises, which have risen 8.6% since the start of 2010 for beer with an alcoholic content of 0.5 or more.However, Baltika President, Anton Artemiev, noted that Baltika had retained high yields and capacity to increase investment into production and promotion due effective cost control."Mostly due to unprecedented tax increases on beer, 2010 was one of the most challenging periods for the industry. Owing to intensive work carried out across the company to increase efficiency in all areas combined with our weighted pricing strategy we managed to minimize the negative impact. We have been able to maintain a leading position in the market in terms of market share and profitability and will continue to drive for improving results and through investments behind brands and modern market tools to strengthen our market position."Baltika added that it expected higher raw material costs for beer – barley and malt – which became apparent in the wake of the 2010 drought to continue to affect beer prices in 2011.