OREANDA-NEWS. May 7, 2010. The share of loss-making companies in Belarus increased to 16.5% of the total number as of March 1, 2010 from 15.8% as of March 1, 2009, an official with the National Statistics Committee told.

Net loss fell 10% to 731 billion Belarusian rubles (Br).

The average return on sales in January-February 2010 was at 7.1%, down from 7.8% in January-February 2009.

In the manufacturing sector, the share of loss-makers was at 23.3% as of March 1, 2010, down 4.2 percentage points from last year. The average profitability of industrial enterprises amounted to 7.5% in January-February 2010, up from 7.4% in January-February 2009.

The share of loss-makers in the fuel industry rose to 35% in January-February 2010 from 5%, and profitability rate was 12.2%, all the way up from minus 3.2%.

In agriculture, the share of loss-making enterprises was at 6% as of March 1, 2010, up from 4.4%. Return on sales fell to 3.8% from 8.5%.

The share of loss-makers in the transport sector, including pipeline transport, stood at 24.2% as of March 1, 2010, up from 19.6% as of March 1, 2009. The profitability of transport services increased to 5.8% from minus 6.1%.

In construction, there were 20.2% of loss-makers as of March 1, 2010 compared to 16% as of the same date in 2009. The profitability of the construction sector in the period decreased to 6.3% from 9.9% as of March 1, 2009.

The share of loss-making enterprises in the communication sector went down to 5.5% as of March 1, 2010 from 9.1% on March 1, 2009. The profitability of communication companies dropped 5.7 percentage points to 30.4%.