SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), November 15 (SeeNews) – Bosnian pharmaceuticals producer Bosnalijek [SAJ:BSNLR] said on Friday its net profit rose to 6.2 million marka ($3.5 million/3.2 million euro) in the first nine months of 2019, from 5.8 million marka a year earlier.
Operating income, however, fell 6.7% to 90.7 million marka in the nine months through September, while operating costs climbed 7.3% to 86.1 million marka, Bosnalijek said in a filing with the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE).
As a result, the company's operating profit declined to 4.6 million marka in the first nine months of the current year from 17 million marka a year earlier.
However, Bosnalijek's loss from other activities shrank to just 80,800 marka in the observed period from 9.0 million marka in January-September 2018, which impacted the final result.
The company's net assets totalled 310.3 million marka at the end of September, compared to 308.5 million marka at the end of 2018.
In October 2016, the government of Bosnia's Federation entity sold its 19.3% stake in Bosnalijek for 23.4 million marka to Malta-based financial services provider KBC Euro Credit Capital.
According to end-September company data, Luxembourg's Haden SA is the largest single shareholder with 25.95%, followed by KBC Euro Credit Capital with 23.67% and Libya's Economic and Social Development Fund with 7.60%. The remainder belongs to smaller shareholders.
The Federation is one of the two autonomous entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)