Bulgaria’s Stara Planina Hold projects 32% fall in 5-mo cons sales

Sofia: Bulgarian diversified group Stara Planina Hold said on Wednesday that it expects its consolidated revenue to drop by 31.6% on the year to some 117.75 million levs ($65.4 million/60.2 million euro) in the first five months of 2024.

The company’s revenue dropped by 29.7% year-on-year in January-April, reaching 97.24 million levs, Stara Planina Hold said in a bourse filing. Last month, the group projected an annual decline of 30.2% in its sales in the first four months of 2024.

The total preliminary gross profit of the company’s four main subsidiaries, including hydraulic equipment manufacturer M+S Hydraulic [BUL:MSH] and machine engineering company Hydraulic Elements and Systems [BUL:HES], amounted to some 7.5 million levs in the review period. Battery manufacturer Elhim Iskra [BUL:ELHM] and cosmetics producer Bulgarian Rose [BUL:ROZA] posted preliminary losses in January-April.

Only Bulgarian Rose is projected to grow its sales revenue in the five months through May, by an annual 30.1% to 1.85 million levs. In contrast, M+S Hydraulic’s sales are seen to drop by 41.3%, while HES’ and Elhim Iskra’s sales are expected to fall by 21.6% and 15.1%, respectively.

Shares in Stara Planina Hold last traded on May 17 when they closed at 10.30 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, bourse data show.