Businessman Ovidiu Buluc, who Farmexim drug distributor, saysnext year's budget will rely on a sales increase by over 15% and a25% rise in operating income from 2009, with the final draft of thebudget to be ready this month.
"Last week, I had a meeting with regional managers and wediscussed the main lines of the budget. We want to reach a 9%market share next year, while operating income will rise by atleast 25% compared with this year," Buluc told ZF in aninterview.
The distributor now accounts for more than 8% of the market,according to provided data, securing it a place among the top tenplayers in the field. In 2010, the company plans to operateinvestments worth around 1m euros after having had no projects thisyear.
As regards operating expenses, Farmexim wants them to fall below7%. "We don't have many areas left where we can operate cuts," saysBuluc, who adds he has not hired any more people this year.
The distributor intends to relinquish around 1,000 drugstores towhich it makes deliveries out of a total of 3,400-3,500 clients,namely around 30%.
"These are drugstores that are unable to make further paymentsor make very small orders. All of these present a very high risk asregards financial and economic creditworthiness. The moves thegovernment has made recently can only lead to the bankruptcy andclosing of hundreds of drugstores," Buluc believes.
In the first nine months of this year, the distributor reachedturnover worth 545m RON (130m euros), up 29% from the same periodof last year. This period's results were above initial estimates,which pointed to a 20% increase. At the same time, according to thecurrent estimates, Farmexim could see a 25% increase by the end ofthe year.
"A lot of small distributors started selling less and less, asthey get no more loans from suppliers. This was probably reflectedin our results," Buluc says.
Last year, the company carried out an efficiency boostingprogramme that included slashing transport costs, freezing wagesand cutting down the number of employees. "It was a tough year, butwith good results," he stated.
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