Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited today 365 Group and Murad Sar enterprises in Yerevan. Accompanied by Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan and Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan, the head of government toured the entities getting acquainted with production processes and development programs.

365 Group produces grape, pomegranate, quinces, blackberry, cherry and other fruit wines as well as Passion de Pineau 2-10-year old strong wines. 365 Group is among Armenia’s leading fruit wine making companies. It is the only producer of Passion de Pineau wine in our country. The main export markets are Russia and Germany.

AMD 200mn worth refurbishments have been made under a program supported by the Investment Committee of the Fund for Rural Economic Development in Armenia (FREDA): the company has imported requisite equipment from Italy, Bulgaria and Georgia.

The production units and office premises have been upgraded in a bid to meet ISO 22000:2005 international standards applicable in the field of food production.

During 2011, 365 Group purchased 440 tons of grapes and other fruits taking its output capacity from 100 thousand to 500 thousand bottles of wine produced annually. Last year’s net sales growth was 195%, with the exports standing at AMD 69,1mn against 33,7mn in 2010.

This year overall sales are expected to grow by 43% and exports - by 25%. Currently the company has 30 employees. Refurbishments and upgrades will have been completed by this yearend.

In an effort to substitute imports with equivalent exports, last December the government initiated amendment of the law on VAT allowing a one-year deferment on VAT payments for imports of polyvinylchloride-based polymers.

Murad Sar Ltd is specialized in the production of doors and windows on the basis of polyvinylchloride-based polymers. The raw materials are imported from France, Belgium, Germany and South Korea. The company boasts highly-qualified staff as trained in Austria.

The company doubled output to 2000 tons in 2011 due to new sales outlets in Georgia and Iran.

Murad Sar had AMD 932mn-worth turnover last year, 2.3 times as much as in 2010. Exports toward Iran and Georgia amounted to 339 million drams. The first lot of profiles (150 tons) has already been shipped to Georgia. The Georgian outlet is due to be expanded by yearned for which 2000 tons of high quality PVC-based raw materials have been imported from the United States.

The company employs 37 people with an average salary of AMD 170 thousand.

Euro 296 thousand-worth production units and necessary equipment were procured with AMD 9.7mn-worth building activities carried out in 2011 to ensure a 20% growth in the level of sales.

The web-site of the government reports that as the enterprise faces energy-related bottlenecks, the Prime Minister instructed the agencies concerned to find ways of addressing the problem.