Sopharma reports 12% increase in annual sales
This article was originally published in Scrip
Bulgaria's second-largest pharmaceutical company Sopharma has reported a 12% sales increase in 2009, exceeding its earlier forecast of 8%. Exports increased by 16% and domestic sales were up by 4%.
The company did not reveal further details of its full-year results. In the first nine months of 2009 Sopharma's sales increased by 7% to BGN 129.5 million ($95.1 million), with domestic sales growing by 10% and exports up by 5%. Its profit almost doubled to BGN 30.9 million. Ognyan Donev, the company's CEO, warned in October that domestic sales could drop to 30% of total 2009 revenues, from 37% in 2008, as a result of insufficient state spending on healthcare. The company wants to expand in central and eastern Europe, he said.
Sopharma, which was named one of the two best-performing companies on the Sofia Stock Exchange last year, also plans to come back to its postponed €35 million investment project in March. It hopes to build a 13,500 sq m plant in Sofia for the production of solid pharmaceutical forms, which should employ 275 people and make three billion tablets a year.
Latvian acquisition
Sopharma has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in Briz, a Latvian pharmaceutical company. This is its second investment in Latvia – it already has a stake in Olainfarm, the country's second-largest drug manufacturer.
Briz made a net profit of €343,000 on €7.5 million sales in the first quarter of this year. It reported revenues of €13.8 million and €358,000 in after-tax profit in 2008.
The company, which was established in 1991, was the fourth-largest pharmaceutical wholesaler in Latvia in 2007. Its services include pharmaceutical distribution in neighbouring Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus and Russia; registration of medicines under national and mutual recognition procedures in the Baltic states, Poland and Bulgaria; marketing assistance and logistics in the Baltic states and Belarus; and product launches in the countries of the region. The acquisition provided Briz with access to Sopharma's product range and an operating cash source.
Separately, Sopharma has increased its stake in Unipharm, a Bulgarian drug manufacturer, to 5.2%. Apart from manufacturing its own range of drugs, Unipharm makes Sopharma's products on contracts, which accounted for almost one third of Unipharm's total output last year.