„Lomsko Pivo“ AD is closing. The owners' official explanation, given to the workers, is „renovation for one year“.
The brewery's liabilities are nearly 13 million leva, and its assets are estimated at 8 million leva, according to the financial statements. According to experts, this indicates a deepening liquidity crisis, writes konkurent.bg.
In the 1970s, the brewery in Lom produced 28 million liters of beer per year, and last year the amount produced was only 3.2 million liters.
In 2025, revenues fell by nearly 30% to about 3 million leva, compared to the previous year, and expenses reached 5 million leva.
Due to debts to the National Revenue Agency in the amount of 1.1 million leva, the company's bank accounts were seized. Part of the assets are collateral for loans. The working capital shortage is estimated at 10 million leva. In 2025, commercial activities and distribution were transferred to the newly established “Novo Lomsko pivo trading“. The new company has also leased some of the assets.
Beer production stopped at the end of last year, and according to unofficial information, some of the workers have not received their salaries for months.
The history of the Lom brewery begins in 1894. Then the Czechs B. Malotin and V. Hozman brought brewing traditions from their homeland and established a beer factory in Lom. At that time, the city was a key commercial center on the Danube River.
The construction of the factory lasted about a year. The construction was entrusted to the Lom master builder Rusin Petrov. The construction was completed in the spring of 1895. Then mass production of beer began.
For over 130 years, “Lomsko pivo“ is a symbol of the city and the local industry.
In the early 1990s, it was privatized in the mass privatization by the investment fund “Ekoinvest“ of the Kozloduy company “Enemona“. In the following years, the ownership changed several times.
In 2024, the shares passed into the hands of Marin Ezekiev, manager of “Ekometa Vratsa“, to which the brewery had accumulated huge debts during the pandemic. In the middle of last year, Malinov sold 33 percent of the capital and currently the owners of “Lomsko pivo“ are several.
“Lomsko pivo“ and the port in Lom are symbols of the city. Beer was also produced in Lom during the wars.
People along the Danube are worried and really hope that the brewery will close only for repairs and that in a year the bottles labeled “Lomsko pivo“ will be on the market again.