Agrofert's consolidated profits down by nearly two-thirds in 2018

The consolidated profit of the country's third largest company, Agrofert, sank by 63.5 percent to CZK 1.67 billion in 2018, the holding's press spokesman Karel Hanzelka told the Czech News Agency on Friday. He said the main reason behind the decrease in profits are losses in Agrofert's chemical and food production segments, this mainly due to reduced performance of the affiliated German bakery group Lienken.

The holding was founded and majority owned by current Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš until 2017, when he agreed to put his shares into a trust fund following the passing of a law that seeked to prevent a possible conflict of interest known as 'Lex Babiš'. However, a recently leaked European Commission preliminary audit found that he still has influence on the company and warned of a possible conflict of interest.