For the first time in the Vitebsk region, trade has become more profitable than oil refining

The leader in the profitability rating of open joint-stock companies operating in the Vitebsk region has changed for the first time. For Naftan OJSC, 2015 turned out to be a difficult year, as a result, the company slipped to third place in terms of profit, and did not even make it into the national top ten most efficient OJSCs. Compared to 2014, there are other notable changes in the distribution of positions.

The trade enterprise Vesta rose to first place from third last year, earning almost 84 billion rubles in net profit (growth rate was 102.4%). This joint-stock company remains, perhaps, the only regional retailer that continues to successfully compete with national retail chains. At the same time, having exhausted the possibilities of expansion in the regional center, Vesta went into the districts, acquiring the Novolukoml trade enterprise UniversalTorg at the end of 2015 for almost 12.9 billion rubles with significant obligations. How the integration process will proceed will be seen by the end of 2016.

By the way, UniversalTorg finished the year with losses of over 3.4 billion rubles, having long-term liabilities of almost 16.2 billion.

Polotsk-Steklovolokno jumped to second place (from seventh in 2014), achieving a result of 69.8 billion rubles, while the net profit growth rate exceeded 269%. Third place belongs to Naftan, which received only 62.6 billion (in 2014, this figure was almost 2 trillion).

The top ten most profitable OJSCs also included Polotsktransneft Druzhba (about 60 billion, growth rate 121.3%), Road Construction Trust No. 1, Vitebsk (55 billion, 378%), Design Bureau Display (almost 38 billion, 181%), Krasny Oktyabr (37.7 billion, 101.3%), Vitebskhlebprom (27.4 billion, 107.2%), NefteZavodMontazh, Novopolotsk (26.4 billion, 138.4%). The top 10 is closed by another representative of the food industry. Postavy Dairy Plant in 2015 managed not only to achieve break-even operation (at the end of 2014, its loss was over 1.2 billion), but also to earn more than 24.4 billion rubles in net profit (for comparison: Orsha Dairy Plant OJSC finished 2015 with a net loss of

125.5 billion).

Of the top ten leaders in 2015, "Keramika", Vitebsk Broiler Poultry Farm, and "Vitebsk Radio Components Plant "Monolit"" dropped out. If the latter just barely missed retaining its position in the ranking, the remaining two joint-stock companies incurred losses of 13.5 billion and 45 billion, respectively. "Keramika" also lost almost half of its revenue from product sales, and the average number of its employees decreased by approximately 23%.

When reviewing the performance results of other OJSCs, the dynamics of "Vityaz" are noteworthy, as it managed to reduce its losses by more than five times in a year. The most profitable among the publicly reporting enterprises is RUP "Vitebskenergo" with a figure of almost 730 billion, which is almost double the corresponding data for 2014 (it should be noted that it used the write-off of exchange rate differences, which affects the financial picture).

Sergey Antonov, "Vitebskiye Vesti".