Low consumer demand in Bulgaria is hindering the growth of the country’s exports, impeding the business of local companies that rely mainly on domestic sales, according to nine-months earnings reports of Bulgaria's public companies.

"
Companies that sell in Bulgaria are still in poor condition, in particular small and medium enterprises, which shows that things on the domestic market are not good at all,"
Hristo Vladimirov, analyst at TBI Invest, said.

Vladimirov highlighted the weakened performance of Bulgarian American Credit Bank, which provides loans predominantly to small and medium enterprises, as the reason for the weak results of domestic firms, as well as the fact that corporate credits accounted for the largest share of overdue loans in the period.

Most of the companies operating on the domestic market reported either stagnant or declining turnovers and profits for January to September, or insufficient increase against a lower 2009 comparable basis, when the crisis had a more significant effect on the economy.

Among the companies with unsatisfactory results are coatings producer Orgachim, fuel and construction materials distributors Petrol and Toplivo, engineering company Enemona, real estate companies Benchmark Fund Estates and Fairplay Properties, printing company Billboard and others.

Bulgarian companies to book stable results in the first nine months of the year were entities which sell items with lower elasticity such as drugs and tobacco products, including pharmaceuticals manufacturer Sopharma and its units Sopharma Trading and Bulgarian Rose-Sevtopolis, as well as tobacco company Bulgartabac and its subsidiary Sofia BT, whose results were mainly driven by sales on foreign markets.

Analysts expect to register an improvement in consumer demand in the last quarter of the year when retail sales in the country usualy intensify.

"
This is a period in which the effect of strong exports should start to transfer to the domestic economy and consumption. It should support some companies,"
Vladimirov said.

Meanwhile, the infrastructure holding companies of Bulgarian businessman Vasil Bozhkov, Moststroy and Holding Roads, had not submitted their non-consolidated reports several hours before the deadline expiry and by the time Dnevnik went to print.



Source: Dnevnik.bg