November 9 (SeeNews) - German pharmaceuticals maker Stada said on Thursday its sales of generic drugs in Serbia nearly doubled to 63.2 million euro ($73.4 million) in the first nine months of 2017 from 37.2 million euro in the like period of last year.
The strong sales growth was mainly due to the initial consolidation of Serbian wholesaler Velexfarm, Stada said in a statement.
Furthermore, the rise is also attributable to the change in the distribution model on the Serbian generics market, following which the Serbian subsidiary of Stada will increasingly focus on direct sales, the German company said.
Hemofarm, the Serbian subsidiary of Stada, acquired Velexfarm for 1 million euro on January 6, after the competition authorities approved the purchase contract signed in October 2016.
The share of sales generated with generics in the Serbian market was 81% in the first nine months of this year, up from 75% in January-September 2016.
In the third quarter of 2017 alone, Stada's sales in Serbia rose by 1% on the year to 19.2 million euro.
Stada's consolidated net profit went up by 9% year-on-year to 109.2 million euro and sales increased by 10% to 1.698 billion euro.
($ = 0.8602 euro)