Greece’s Frigoglass H1 net jumps 137%

Greek drink refrigeration equipment maker Frigoglass said on Tuesday first-half net profit jumped 137% on a recovery in its eastern European and Asian markets.
Athens-based Frigoglass, which supplies bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic and brewers such as Heineken, said net profit in the period was 14.8 mln euros, while sales rose 30% year-on-year to 235.9 mln euros.
The gain marked a sharp turnaround from the first half of 2009, when net profit had been hit by a slide in demand on the back of the global downturn.
The strong quarter had been helped by the company's broad geographical presence, "with growth being led by the ongoing momentum in Asia/Oceania, the recovery in eastern Europe and positive performance in Africa/Middle East," Managing Director Petros Diamantides said in a statement.
"We expect the second half to demonstrate similar trends and remain cautious on recovery prospects in western Europe," he said.
Frigoglass has plants in Greece, Russia, Romania, Turkey, India, Indonesia, China, South Africa and South Carolina. It also operates two bottle glass units in Nigeria.
Shares of Frigoglass are up 39.7% year-to-date, outperforming the broader Greek equities market which is down 20.4% in the same period.