August 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian drug trader Sopharma Trading [BUL:SFT] said that its consolidated net profit rose to 6.2 million levs ($3.7 million/3.2 million euro) in the first half of 2021, from 5.3 million levs in the same period of last year.Sopharma Trading's operating revenue grew to 647.6 million levs in the January-June period of this year from 535.2 million levs in the like period of 2020, the company said in an interim financial statement on Monday.The company’s solid performance continued in the second quarter, when it booked sales of 319.4 million levs, representing a market share of 21.36%. Sopharma Trading formed over 66% of its sales in the second quarter through its chain of pharmacies.The drug trader’s operating expenses also increased - to 640.4 million levs in the first six months of 2021 from 528.8 million levs the year before, mostly due to higher cost of goods sold.Sopharma Trading is a unit of Bulgarian pharmaceuticals producer Sopharma [BUL:SFA], which owned 76.33% interest in the company at the end of June.As at 10:00 CET on Tuesday, Sopharma Trading's shares traded unchanged at 5.20 levs on the Sofia bourse.(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)