SAMARA, May 27 (RIA Novosti-Volga area) - AvtoVAZ (RTS ticker: AVAZ) said Saturday its 2005 net profit had nosedived by 75% to 1.4 billion rubles ($51.8 million).
The Russian carmaker's board chairman Vladimir Artyakov said the reduced efficiency of AvtoVAZ activities was because the growth rates of production costs outpaced the price growth rates.
He also attributed the profit reduction to embezzlement, which he said was worth some 1 billion rubles ($37 million) in 2005.
Artyakov said AvtoVAZ was planning a reorganization of its service and sales network to overcome negative tendencies.
