After-tax profit of Zwack Unicum, Hungary’s best known spirits maker, rose 27.4pc year-on-year to HUF 1.13bn in the first half of its 2018-2019 business year, an earnings report released after the end of market trading shows. Total gross sales of the company amounted to HUF 12.15bn, a y-o-y increase of 14.3pc.

Zwack’s revenue, net of taxes including the excise tax and public health product tax, rose 13.7pc to HUF 7.35bn. Net sales of self-manufactured goods increased in the domestic market by 17.1pc to HUF 5.18bn. Broken down, the sale of premium products increased 13.7pc. Export revenue reached HUF 765m following a 5.6pc growth.

Direct cost of sales climbed 11.7pc to HUF 2.97bn, with the gross margin increasing by 0.7 percentage points to 59.6pc. Gross margin rose by 15.1pc to HUF 4.38bn. Payroll costs were up 6.6pc to HUF 1.42bn. Other operating expenses climbed 13.5pc to HUF 1.62bn mainly due to higher marketing expenses.

Operating profit was up 28.4pc at HUF 1.38bn in H1.