Figaro nets 28 million Sk for first half 1996

Jacobs Suchard Figaro, a confectionery producer in Bratislava, scored a net income of 28 million Sk, which is 40 Sk per share, in the first half of 1996, company officials announced. At the end of last year, the company reported a loss of 27.2 million Sk (a loss of 39 Sk /share). Figaro, partially privatized in the first wave of voucher privatization, aims to become the leading chocolate manufacturer in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In 1993, its market share in Slovakia was 34 percent, growing to 39 percent in 1994 and 44 percent last year. This year, it aims to build upon that margin as well as increase its exports to Russia. Out of Figaro's ownership structure, 67 percent is owned by Kraft Jacobs Suchard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the global food-packaging and cigarette producer Philip Morris, while the remaining 33 percent is held by individual shareholders and investment funds.