Ambra tries to put the sparkle back into its wine business

Wine importer Ambra is cutting costs and to this end it will shut down one of its two bottling plants in the Czech Republic by the middle of 2009

"Concentration of production should enable savings of about zł.3 million," said Robert Ogór, president of the stock-listed company, which is a leading producer and distributor of wines in Central Europe. Closing down the plant is part of Ambra's restructuring program, which should help the company enter the black after it was zł.8.8 million in the red in the 2007/2008 accounting year.

According to the CEO, the first results of the savings were visible in Q1 2008/2009 accounting year, but no official report was published, althought the company is quick to declare that sales are growing at a rate of 15 percent, - a figure well above the sector average.

In the whole 2008/2009 accounting year, the firm hopes that revenues will grow by between 5-10 percent, but these forecasts are cautious due to unstable situation on the markets.