The pharmaceuticals distributor Pharmafarm is planning to consolidate its position on the Romanian market through acquisitions. The move is backed by Celesio, which took over the Slovenian firm Kemofarmacija, the majority shareholder in the Romanian company.
"We are currently exploring other avenues of growth, besides organic growth of the company's business. Pharmafarm's short-term goal is to consolidate a position in the top three. Together with Celesio we will participate in projects that help the development of our operations on the market," said Marius Chereches, Pharmafarm's general manager.
Celesio, which is based in Germany and is the leading distributor and retailer of pharmaceuticals in Europe, took over 31.4% in Kemofarmacija from the Lek pharmaceuticals group, thereby indirectly entering the Romanian market. Celesio has expressed interest in acquiring the rest of the shares.
Kemofarmacija, which has its headquarters in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, increased its stake in Pharmafarm last week and now owns more than 95%. A month before this, Kemofarmacija put out a tender for 2.5 million euros to buy the Pharmafarm shares held by Lek Pharmatech and a number of individuals.
"Taking over of the stake is the natural thing to do for Kemofarmacija, as Lek is exiting the group," said Chereches.
Last year Pharmafarm made a profit for the first time in the last three years, though the general manager declined to specify the value of the profits. The company's turnover rose from 18.9 million euros in 2003 to 25.5 million euros in 2004. Its net losses for FY2003 were in the region of 600,000 euros, according to data from the Ministry of Finance website.
"Besides the company's internal policies, another factor that contributed to the 2004 results was the sustained growth seen by the pharmaceutical market," explained Chereches. Pharmafarm's market share rose from 2% earlier in the year to 3.5% by the end of 2004, he added.
In 2004, Pharmafarm's portfolio expanded to 2,000 products and its sales team doubled in size.
alexandru.cerchez@zf.ro
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