Russian beer market will stagnate in 2009 – at best

Baltika Breweries, the leader on the Russian beer market, on 19 February reported that its net profit edged up 11 percent to RUB 15.5 billion (USD 425 million) in 2008 year-on-year.

Revenue increased 17.2 percent to RUB 92.4 billion (USD 2.5 billion), and gross profit climbed 11.5 percent to RUB 45.8 billion (USD 1.26 billion), it was reported.

Meanwhile, EBITDA went up 15.5 percent to RUB 27.56 billion (USD 757 million), while investments amounted to roughly RUB 11 billion (USD 302 million).

In 2008, Baltika’s beer sales were 44.5 million hl, up 1.8 percent.

Despite the deepening of the global financial crisis, Baltika delivered good results in the fourth quarter: revenue increased by 11.8 percent and EBIT grew by 27.3 percent.

Its market share at year’s end stood at 38.3 percent, an increase of 0.7 percent over 2007.

Beer exports grew by 11.6 percent year-on-year to 2.2 million hl.