Russian Brewer OAO Yarpivo announced 490 million litres of beer sold in the first 11 months of the year 13% more than for the same period last year (434 million litres), the Russian Beer Union reported on December 04.

Yarpivo’s net profit increased 11.2% up to RUB 1.19 billion (US$40 million) in the first nine months of the year versus the same period last year (RUB 1.07 billion) on the back of sales of RUB 4.8 billion, an increase of 27%. Administrative costs rose to RUB2.32 billion, while cost of production climbed by 21% to RUB 2.48 billion.

The strong figures allowed Yarpivo to increase its market share in Russia to 7.2% at the end of September. At the beginning of this year, the brewer held 6% of the market. The company, owned by Baltic Beverage Holdings, also said that its volume sales for the first 11 months of 2003 rose by 13% to 490m litres.

08 December, 2003