After-tax profit of Zwack Unicum, Hungary’s best known spirts maker, fell 12pc year-on-year to HUF 886m in the first half of its 2017-2018 business year, an earnings report released after the closing bell on shows.Total gross sales of the company amounted to HUF 10.62bn, a Y-O-Y decrease of 3.6pc. The net sale of own-produced goods decreased but the sales of premium products rose. Zwack’s revenue, net of taxes, rose just 0.2pc to HUF 6.46bn, direct cost of sales climbed 0.7pc to HUF 2.65bn, lowering gross margin by 0.2pc to HUF 3.80bn.

Payroll costs jumped 6.1pc to HUF 1.33bn. Other operating expenses climbed 6.7pc to HUF 1.43bn mainly due to an increase in marketing expenses, Zwack said. Profit from operations was down 18.5pc at HUF 1.07bn in H1 business year.