Jutrzenka's takeover strategy begins to show sweet success

The company, owned by the Kolański family, posted a net profit of slightly over zł.15 million, which is 116% up on its 2004 figure. Sales revenues rose by 58.5% to zł.288.7 million. "In 2005 our share of the confectionery market rose from an initial 5% to 15%. The results were so favorable that we can look into the future without fear," said company president Jan Kolański. The huge leap in market share was mainly due to taking over the Goplana and Kaliszanka brands. Q4 2005 was not, however, as positive as the rest of the year as the Bydgoszcz-based company posted an operational profit of only zł.760,000 and a zł.1 million net profit. "With high marketing expenditures our Q4 profit simply had to be low. In Q4 2005 alone we spent 45% of our annual marketing budget," explained Kolański. The zł.18 million marketing budget was mainly spent on TV commercials. In 2006 Jutrzenka projects increasing sales and strengthening its position in the most important market segments, on which it is going to spend zł.25-26 million. Yet, with such positive prospects, Jutrzenka's bourse standing fell yesterday by 9%. Analysts speculate this might be due to the company's unclear strategy for the future. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11) D.W.