OREANDA-NEWS. During the 6 months of 2013 the total sales has remained flat year on year, amounting to 26.2 million euros.

The operating profit from the Company’s main business activity decreased by 9.6% to 11.9 million euros. The decrease in operating profit is mainly derived by the increase in pollution tax, as in April 2013 there was an incident in the waste water treatment plant, due to which for the short period of time not all wastewater could have been treated. Due to that incident in the 2nd quarter of 2013 higher rates for pollution tax were applied and the Company faced additional pollution tax and income tax charges of 0.9 mln euros.

The Company’s profit before taxes for the 6 months of 2013 was 12.6 mln euros, which is a 5.4% increase compared to the relevant period in 2012 being entirely influenced by the change in fair value of swap contracts.