November 11 (SeeNews) - The net profit of Romanian state-controlled drug maker Antibiotice [BSE:ATB] rose 22% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016, reaching 18 million lei ($4.3 million/3.9 million euro), the company said on Friday.
Sales increased 5% to 227.3 million lei in the period January-September, Antibiotice said in its nine-month financial report posted on the corporate website.
The company's exports increased 15% in the first nine months of 2016, reaching 72.5 million lei. Antibiotice exported mostly finished products and its active ingredient Nystatin to the USA, Europe and South-East Asia. In April, Antibiotice said it will set up a subsidiary in Vietnam, aiming to boost its business in South East Asia.
"In line with the overall objectives of the company, in the first 9 months of 2016 we made significant investments to develop the company. We performed upgrades and retrofits to increase labour productivity, to lower energy losses, increase operational safety and to comply with the requirements of regulatory bodies, during recertification audits," the company said.
Antibiotice's net profit fell 14% to 27.1 million lei in 2015, while sales rose nearly 3.5% to 330 million lei.
Antibiotice develops and manufactures 148 generic drugs for human medicine, veterinary drugs and Nystatin, an active ingredient used to prepare drugs for the treatment of fungal infections of the stomach, intestines, and mucous membranes.
The company's research centre and production facilities are located in Iasi county, in eastern Romania.
Antibiotice shares were trading 0.78% lower at 0.5058 lei as at 1310 CET on Friday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro =4.5125 Romanian lei)