Polimeri AD of Devnya booked 1.522 mln leva (778,200 euros) loss for the first quarter of 2008, compared to 535,000 leva (273,500 euros) profit posted for the year-ago period, the company reported on its website.

Polimeri did not fully utilize its production capacity in the first quarter of the year, which resulted in a considerable decrease in sales revenue, which in turn reflected on the overall financial result of the company for the period.

Polimeri's revenue totaled 8.62 mln leva (4.4 mln euros) in the first three months of 2008, down by 25.5% compared to the 11.57 mln leva (5.91 mln euros) revenue booked for the year-ago period.

The negative exchange rate difference from the depreciation of the US dollar against the Bulgarian lev since the beginning of 2008, also contributed to the loss, Polimeri said.

Polimeri is currently implementing a Cogeneration project, which will help the company generate all the heat energy it needs and will make it independent from its only supplier.

Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) yesterday refused to approve Polimeri's prospectus for the public offering of shares.

The main reason for the refusal was the fact that the considerable difference in the price of the new shares issued as part of the capital raise and the balance sheet value of the shares prior to the capital increase will harm investors' interest.

Polimeri planned to raise its capital from 5.324 mln leva (2.72 mln euros) to 55.324 mln leva (28.28 mln euros).

The stock price of the company has gone up by 7.88% to an average of 5.89 leva (3.01 euros) per share so far today.