The Hungarian largest brewer, Brau Union Hungaria Rt, reported a pre-tax profit of about HUF 1.1 billion ($ 4.1 million) in the first half of 2002, down 29.8% versus the first half year of 2001. The Austrian beer group, Braw Union AG, owns 85.3% of Brau Union Hungaria Rt.

The decline was caused by the rising costs, the company said. Bear sales reached HUF 15 billion, up by 8.5% and sales revenues increased by 11.8% to HUF 16.1 billion. However, in volume terms, beer sales increased by only 0.8% to 934900 hl. Hence, Brau Union’s market share went down from 27.8% to 26.7% in the period under review.

06 September, 2002