LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Kosovo and Balkans-focussed marble quarrying and finishing company Fox Marble updated the market on its operations on Tuesday, reporting that sales for the 2019 calendar year totalled €1.4m (?1.23m).
The AIM-traded firm said the fall in block sales of Illirico Selene following the closure of operations in Maleshev? was offset by increased block sales from the Prilep quarry in Macedonia.

Sales from the factory increased "significantly" in the final quarter of the year, outpacing the previous three quarters, following the appointment of new factory manager and non-board chief operating officer, with the board saying it expected that trend to continue into 2020.

Sales of processed marble were expected to form an increasing proportion of sales from 2020 onwards.

The directors said the opening of Fox's new showroom in Pristina was a demonstration of their confidence in the market growth potential of the region, both for its own processed products, as well as providing cutting and polishing services to third parties.

Fox's strategic focus for sales over 2020 would include factory sales of processed marble to Kosovo and the greater Balkans area, as well as block sales to China and other markets.

Those block sales would be driven by the firm's Prilep quarry in Macedonia, which had "significant" reserves potential of premium quality Alexandria White and Alexandria Blue marble.

The board said the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak would have an impact on block sales throughout the marble industry, as a result of the prominence of China as a buyer of unprocessed marble and the travel restrictions imposed since the start of the year.

It said it was continuing to monitor the situation, and was also still "tightly managing" working capital.

"In the last year the company has re focussed its activities and l look forward to seeing the results of this and I am hopeful that we shall see the results of this in 2020, particularly in the sale of processed marble on the back of our developing customer base in the Balkans region," said chief executive officer Chris Gilbert.

"The hard work that our enhanced management team is undertaking will show results this year."

At 1342 GMT, shares in Fox Marble Holdings were down 4.17% at 2.3p.

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