Vimm-Bill-Dann comments on consumer demand for juices

In the first half of 2002 there was an increase in the demand for cheapbrands of juices, Vladimir Preobrazhensky, financial director ofVimm-Bill-Dann, declared at a press conference today. According to him, thecompany's financial report shows that the margin in the juice sectoradvanced from 30.9 percent in the first half of 2001 to 34.8 percent in thefirst six months of 2002. The margin in the milk sector grew from 25.7percent to 28.2 percent in the reported period, which was due to a decreasein raw milk prices, the company's executives believe. Responding to an RBCquestion, Dmitry Kolokatov, head of the Vimm-Bill-Dann Juices division,said that a slight increase in the the Lyubimy Sad (Favorite Garden) juicebrand's share in the structure of the company's juice production waspossible. According to him, the J-7 juice brand's share (a segment ofexpensive juices) is 45-47 percent currently and the Lyubimy Sad's share ispractically the same. Kolokatov stressed that changes in the share of theleading brands would be from four to five percent. He also noted that therecent changes in market prices for cherry juice and other red fruitconcentrates that were imported from Poland mainly, would not affect thefinal price of the company's juice products..

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