The Vertex Litomysl company, which is the only Czech producer of glass fibres and fabrics, will not pay dividends from last year“s net profit of Kcs 122 million, an annual general meeting decided rec…
The Vertex Litomysl company, which is the only Czech producer of glass fibres and fabrics, will not pay dividends from last year“s net profit of Kcs 122 million, an annual general meeting decided recently. Instead, the firm will transfer Kcs 16 million to the social and reserve funds, while the remaining Kcs 106 million will be retained. Last year“s net profit was Kcs 58 million lower year-on-year. Gross profit amounted to Kcs 209 million, which was nearly at the level of 1997“s gross earnings worth Kcs 225 million. Revenues grew 12% to Kcs 2.84 billion last year, while exports added 16% year-on-year to Kcs 2.27 billion, which was some 80% of Vertex“s revenues. The main targets included the European Union countries and Central Europe. Company CEO Jiri Zagora is expecting a “considerable increase” in both revenues and profit this year. Vertex ended the first six months of 1999 with a gross profit of Kcs 159 million on revenues of Kcs 1.55 billion. Vertex wants to carry on with its massive investments this year, as it is building a new plant worth some Kcs 450 million. The plant should start operation next spring. The company, which employs some 1,500 people, has share capital of Kcs 2.05 billion. Of this amount, over 99% is held by the French glass-producing giant Saint-Gobain through the German firm Vetrotex. Upon a proposal by Vetrotex, shareholders at the meeting decided to cancel the public tradeability of Vertex shares.