For the first time in a decade, "Bellakt" operated at a huge loss. And here's why
The latest financial report has emerged for the Belarusian dairy industry giant, Volkovysk's "Bellakt," a leader in the production of dry baby food not only in Belarus but throughout the post-Soviet space. The consistently successful plant, whose majority shareholder is the state, suddenly became a large debtor with overstocked warehouses and negative profitability.
Illustrative photo: a dairy processing plant in Belarus
Bellakt's financial report for 2025 does not resemble the report of a healthy enterprise, which the plant undoubtedly was for the last decade. To illustrate the anomaly and for comparison, Nasha Niva analyzed Bellakt's financial documents from 2015.
For a decade, "Bellakt" steadily increased its revenue, rapidly developing and growing by a double-digit percentage annually. Breakthrough growth did not occur only in 2023 and 2025 — in the first of these years, the market was restructuring under the influence of sanctions, and in the second, the Russian economy slowed down.
But there were no major drops either. Nevertheless, in 2025, revenue was more or less at the same level, as was the cost of sales, yet the year ended with a loss of 12 million rubles. Why did this happen? What consumed the profit?
Management expenses (41 million rubles) and selling expenses (47 million rubles) soared; in 2024, these were 29 million rubles and 38 million rubles respectively.
Management and sales consumed most of the profit, the rest was eaten up by other types of natural expenses, and loan payments pushed the company into the red — the enterprise's losses from financial activities increased by 4.3 times.
And if only that were all.
In one year, the enterprise became a colossal debtor. Short-term debts (due for repayment within a year) increased almost sevenfold: from 15.5 million to 103.6 million rubles!
Along with this, inventories increased by 100 million rubles, mainly finished products.
Cash balances decreased: a reduction from 23 million to 6 million. And retained earnings (the company's accumulated cushion) decreased by 30 million rubles (from 153 million to 122 million). In other words, "Bellakt" consumed everything it earned in the last few years.
So what happened to the plant? The explanation is simple. In the summer of 2025, the Grodno Cannery was merged with the successful enterprise.
Its book value and warehouse inventories were estimated at tens of millions of rubles, which were added to Bellakt's assets, but the increase in such assets should not be misleading, because the plant itself became unprofitable, and there is no guarantee that the finished product inventories will turn into cash.
Whether this expanded "Bellakt" will manage to return to profitability is a question. This might be possible with a favorable market environment, skillful marketing, and optimization of the areas that are consuming profit.
The financial reserves accumulated by "Bellakt" in successful years, in a sense, allow for such shock experiments.
At least part of the losses from financial activities in 2025, as well as the increase in debt, can be explained by active investment in a new project. However, whether this is actually the case is unknown.
It is known that "Bellakt" has been involved in the activities of the Grodno Cannery since at least 2018, seeking its application within its business processes and leasing some of its equipment.
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