Romania's A&D Pharma 9-mo Cons Sales Fall 3.0% to 364.6 Mln Euro

A&D Pharma Holdings provided no profit figures.

"Despite the impact of the depreciation of the Romanian currency against the euro, we are delighted to report strong revenue increases in lei and stable euro denominated turnover. We continue to implement cost control measures to further enhance our profitability as indicated at our half year results," A&D Pharma CEO Robert Popescu said in a statement.

The average exchange rate for the leu was 4.2293 per euro in the first nine months of 2009 compared to 3.6396 in the same period last year, the statement said.

The Romanian drug group owns the local Sensiblu pharmacy chain and drug distributor Mediplus.

The drug distribution company’s wholesale revenue rose by 5.0%to 266.3 million euro in January-September thanks to efficient logistics and working capital management, providing faster and easier access to suppliers’ products and giving Mediplus a competitive advantage in Romania, A&D Pharma Holdings said.

"The company significantly outperformed the general hospital market and increased its average market share of the hospital segment to 14.4% at the end of September from 10% last year. It is important to note that the Romanian authorities kept prescription prices at a steady level in lei despite rising exchange rates, and this contributed to limit the growth in this segment,” the company said.

Sensiblu, which operates a chain of 220 pharmacies across Romania, recorded an annual sales growth of 22% to 135.7 million euro in the first nine months of the year.

"The regulatory environment has recently become more challenging due to the introduction of new government legislation designed to increase funds for Romania’s healthcare system. In spite of this, we still believe we are well positioned to capture the anticipated growth in the healthcare markets in which we operate and we continue to look at alternative ways of generating value for our shareholders," Popescu said.

"As and when opportunities arise, we will take advantage of them, as indicated in our recent announcement concerning deals we have in the pipeline in five Eastern European countries," Popescu said.

($=0.6647 euro)