November 16 (SeeNews) - Slovenian drug maker Krka [LJE:KRKG] said on Thursday its consolidated net profit leapt 37% year-on-year to 110.1 million euro ($129.7 million) in the first nine months of 2017.
Consolidated sales rose 9% on the year to 928.3 million euro in the period January-September, Krka said in a bourse filing. This is Krka’s highest nine-month sales result to date.
Sales in markets outside Slovenia totalled 861.6 million euro, which represents 93% of the Krka Group sales.
Krka's largest sales region was Eastern Europe, where sales totalled 271.4 million euro, which is 29.2% of overall sales and an increase of 18% on the year.
In Central Europe, consisting of the Visegrad Group countries and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Krka sold 226 million euro worth of products, which is 24.4% of overall Krka Group sales. Sales in Central Europe rose 8% year-on-year in the first nine months.
Western Europe followed with 217.7 million euro of sales in the first nine months, which represents 23.5% of total sales. Compared to the same period of last year, sales were up 3%.
Product sales in Southeast Europe totalled 116.3 million euro, up 4% compared to the first nine months of 2016 and representing 12.5% of overall Krka Group sales. The leading market in the region is Romania, while the other principal drivers of sales growth were Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
In Slovenia Krka sold 66.7 million euro worth of products, which is 7.2% of total group sales and up 4% on the year. With a 9% market share, Krka has remained the leading pharmaceutical company in Slovenia.
Product sales in the Overseas Markets segment totalled 30.1 million euro, up 12% on the year.
In the first nine months of 2017, the Krka Group allocated 75.2 million euro to investments, of which the controlling company invested 62 million euro and subsidiaries invested 13.2 million euro. The Krka Group investments in the full year 2017 have been planned to amount to just over 120 million euro, which is less than last year's investment.
Krka forecasts product and service sales of 1.24 billion euro in 2017, thus exceeding the annual plan of 1.22 billion euro. Next year, Krka plans to increase group sales to 1.3 billion euro, with a profit of 153 million euro.
At the end of September, the Krka Group had 10,733 employees.
($=0.849171 euro)