The volume of wine exports increased by almost 24 percent.Continue reading
The beverage manufacturer Zwack‘s revenues grew nicely in the first half of this financial year, and what is more, the company even managed to contain costs where possible. However, management reported a drop in profits due to higher personnel and operating expenses – mainly due to Zwack’s generous advertising campaign abroad, reports Világgazdaság.
Zwack Unicum’s gross turnover in the first half of the company’s financial year closed at the end of September, having increased by 5.9 percent year-on-year to HUF 18,234 million (1 EUR = 411 HUF). This year’s gross turnover already includes the mandatory packaging return system fee income introduced on January 1, amounting to HUF 165 million in the first half of the year. Net sales increased by 8.6 percent to HUF 11,289 million.
Net sales of domestic products exceeded the base by 5.3 percent, while net sales of own-produced products on the domestic market increased by 8.5 percent to HUF 7,240 million.
Within this, sales of premium products jumped by 11.1 percent, while sales of quality products barely increased. Within the premium category, sales of the Unicum brand (12.8 percent) and the Kalumba brand (37.1 percent) increased the most.
According to the April-September retail market survey data, the Hungarian taxed retail market for spirits declined by 4.1 percent in volume terms, while it remained flat in value terms. In the same period, Zwack sales grew by 6.5 percent in volume terms, while outperforming the base by 12.6 percent in gross value terms.
Exports grew by 15.1 percent to HUF 1,205 million.
In the second quarter, export sales grew by almost 13 percent, mainly due to the success in the German market, where sales increased by over 140 percent in the quarter. In addition, the turnover of products sold in duty-free shops increased by 25 percent in this period. However, the biggest growth was achieved in the services business, where turnover shot up by 52.5 percent to HUF 755 million.
Photo: Facebook/Unicum
It should be highlighted that despite the increase in turnover, material costs fell by 4.4 percent, improving the gross margin by 4.6 percentage points to 65.3 percent. This is partly due to lower raw material prices and partly to the favorable evolution of the product mix.
Meanwhile, personnel expenses rose by 9.2 percent as the beverage producer implemented an average wage increase of 12 percent at the beginning of the financial year.
The operating result was HUF 1,461 million, 1.7 percent lower than the previous year. This was caused by an increase in operating expenses, mainly marketing costs.
As a result, the company’s profit after tax also fell by 5.9 percent to HUF 1,190 million, which is still slightly above plan.
Via Világgazdaság; Featured image via Facebook/Unicum