Financial profit lifts Raba from red in H1

Hungarian vehicle and vehicle parts maker Raba had net income of HUF 250 million in the first half as financial profit and sales of unused property lifted the bottom line out of the red, the company's consolidated IFRS report published Monday shows.

Raba's revenue edged up 2.5% to HUF 18.2 billion during the period. Direct cost of sales climbed at a faster clip, rising 7.5% to HUF 15.0 billion and causing gross profit to narrow 16.1% to HUF 3.1 billion.

Operating profit was down a sharp 60.4% at HUF 163 million, though it was helped by "other revenue", which was up 78.7% at HUF 1.2 billion, in part due to the sale of the unused property and buildings, Raba said in the report.

Raba booked a net financial gain of HUF 366 million for the period, compared to a loss of HUF 1.1 billion in H1 2010.

Raba's export revenue rose 29.7% to HUF 12.5 billion. Revenue from domestic sales was down 29.8% at HUF 5.7 billion.

Raba chairman-CEO Istvan Pinter said the first-half results were in line with expectations. Long-term agreements Raba has signed with business partners and continued controls on spending levels "could create the chance to make us able to improve the profitability of our company", he added.