Slovenian drugs firm Krka predicts flat profits this year
Friday, November 20, 2015
Slovenian's generic drug producer Krka expects its net profit this year to be unchanged from the 166.2 million euros it made in 2014 while sales are expected to be down by around 2 percent, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
It also predicted its net profit next year would be just over 160 million euros on sales of around 1.2 billion euros but said it would continue to look for acquisitions to take it into new markets and products.
Sales this year, the company said, will fall by about 2 percent from 1.2 billion euros in 2014, mainly due to lower drug prices and the drop in value of the Russian rouble and the Ukrainian hryvnia.
Group net profits in the first nine months of the year were up 5 percent at 133.3 million euros, buoyed by a 34-percent rise in sales in Western Europe offsetting the deterioration in the value of Russian sales.
"Sales in the Russian federation, which is Krka's largest single market, were up by 7 percent compared to a year ago when expressed in roubles but down by 21 percent when expressed in euros," the company said.
Krka shares were up 0.7 percent at 63 euros by 1145 GMT, valuing the group at about 2 billion euros.
reuters.com
