Stock earnings spirited away by Pole tax
STOCK Spirits yesterday revealed big drops in revenue and profit as price wars in Poland continued to bite.
The FTSE 250 drinks firm reported a 77.6 per cent slide in operating profit to €5.2m (£3.7m) and a 21.6 per cent fall in revenue to €108m in its interim results.
Issues in the company’s Polish supply chain during the first quarter dented earnings, as a 2014 rise in excise duty continued to weigh on performance. A new warehouse had improved flexibility in the operation with considerable benefits to its performance, it said.
Chief executive Christi Heath said: “While there are risks facing the business from continuing aggressive competitor pricing and erratic customer ordering patterns we currently believe that our full-year earning… will be within the range of €60m to €68m.”