Kandia ends 2005 with 34m euros

Chocolate producer Kandia-Excelent posted 124 million RON (34 million euro) turnover last year, an increase of 5% in RON compared with 2004, while the profit in RON was lower than in 2004.

The company is therefore close to the objective set early in the year when it targeted turnover of about 35 million euros.

According to the reports it published on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the net profit in 2005 amounted to 6 million RON (1.6 million euros), down from the 6.2 million RON (1.5 million euros) recorded one year previous.

The operating income, however, was higher than in 2004, reaching 7.6 million RON (2.08 million euros), up from 5.5 million RON (1.4 million euros) in 2004.

The Kandia-Excelent officials could not be reached for comment on 2005”s results yesterday.

Nine months into last year, the company”s net profit stood at almost 2 million euros, an increase of more than 50% on the same time in 2004. According to company reports, the net profit in the first three quarters stood at nearly 7 million RON (1.9 million euros) up from 5 million RON (1.2 million euros), in the same time in the previous year. After this promising start to the year, the company posted 1.6 million-euro profits at the end of 2005, lower than the profit figure for the first nine months.

Kandia-Excelent posted some 30 million-euro (120 million RON) turnover in 2004, and a net profit of 1.5 million euros.

Kandia-Excelent produces the Kandia, Excelenta and Laura, brands, and also makes Stil and Concerto chocolates and the Rom and Papi chocolate bars. It also makes durable pastry products (Magura), as well as caramels, nougats and diet sweets.

Excelent merged with the chocolate maker Kandia Timisoara in 2003. Prior to the merger, Excelent was Kandia”s main shareholder, after having acquired the controlling interests from the investment fund Rivta Handelsges in 2003, a deal put at six million dollars (about 5 million euros). dana.ciriperu@zf.ro