Bulgaria's largest steel plant Kremikovtsi reported on Sunday BGN 81 mln net profit for 2004. The financial data was presented by the executive director of the plant Valentin Zahariev, who also explained that the plant has paid up debts worth BGN 227 mln thus increasing its solvency. Over EUR 40 mln investments and 12% salary increase are among the main priorities of the plant's management for 2005. The press conference held on Sunday did not make it any clear whether a deal for the acquisition of a majority state in the Sofia-based metallurgical plant by Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL), is taking shape. Promod Mittal and Alok Gupta, his representative in GSHL, did not attend the news event despite being listed among the official participants. Zahariev said the two sides have not put pen to paper yet, neither confirming nor denying that acquisition talks are in progress. According to reports in mid-March 2005, the potential Indian buyer had conditioned the deal on changes in the Kremikovtzi supervisory and managing boards. GSHL intends to invest USD 300 mln in Kremikovtzi over the next three years to improve output capacity and adopt EU standards, the Indian press reported in September 2004.