At a general meeting held today, shareholders in Todoroff Jsc approved all proposals on the agenda. The meeting was attended by investors holding 2.23 mln shares, a Profit.bg reporter said.

The poor financial result for 2007 was explained with the delay of the funds via SAPARD, as well as with the disappointing performance of the hotel management unit.

Last year the company did not receive any money via SAPARD. The funds are expected this year.

“The sale of the hotel management unit Poliarts aims at excluding a loss-making enterprise form the consolidated results of the group,”said Ivan Todoroff.

“No assets have been transferred to the unit after it was established last year and it currently owns none,” he added.

The company reports a consolidated loss in the amount of 90,000 leva for Q1. Todoroff will analyze the situation and what lead to it and is determined to find a solution.

The company plans to own 711 decares of vineyards by next year. According to the prospectus, the total area of own vineyards has to reach 1,000 decares. “The slow down is due to the delay of the subsidies we already mentioned, but the company is determined to complete its investment program.”

“Times have become more difficult for Bulgarian wine makers as a whole, “ Mr. Todoroff said. In his words, this was to a large extent due to increased competition form wine importers.

In spite of that, Todoroff Jsc manages to stand out and the company eked a slight increase in sales in H1.

“Unfair competition is one of the main problems,” Todoroff pointed out.

Todoroff Jsc recently set up a 100% controlled subsidiary, with the core activity of distributing foreign wines and spirits.

“We hope this new activity will hike our revenues significantly in the mid-term plan. We expect sales of Todoroff wines to reach 30-40% of the total sales,” he added.

The appearance of foreign companies on the local market is inevitable, as is the case in all countries in the CEE. “We can not stop the process, but we can do our best to make profit from it,” Ivan Todoroff added.