Gedeon Richter posts 3.7% sales growth in H1 2010

2010-08-04

Gedeon Richter, the prominent Hungarian drug manufacturer, reported a 3.7% y-o-y increase in forint-denominated consolidated pharmaceutical sales in the first half of the year, to just under HUF 115.9bn. In euro terms, sales were up by 10.9% y-o-y in January to June and amounted to €426m. The company attributed the positive result to strong sales in Hungary and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, which more than offset weaker performance in the EU15 region and Poland or Romania, its key markets in Central Europe.
Sales on the domestic market climbed by 8.7% y-o-y in the six months to June and totalled HUF 16.6bn. In euro terms they were up by 16.2% y-o-y to €61m. At the end of June, Richter controlled 5.6% of the Hungarian pharmaceutical market and 7.6% of the market for prescription medicines, according to IMS data.
With respect to foreign markets, the European Union as whole (excluding Hungary) showed an increase of 2.3% y-o-y to €113.3m. Sales in Poland, Richter’s biggest export market in the European Union, edged up by a meagre 1.1% y-o-y to €36m, whereas in Romania revenues were up by 2.9% y-o-y to €14.4m, pulled down by delays in reimbursement payments by the country’s state health insurer. The EU9 region, which includes e.g. the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic States, enjoyed a 8.4% y-o-y in sales to €33.7m. Sales in the EU15 region (i.e., “old” member states), dropped by 3% y-o-y to €29.2m, amid increasing competition in generics and “general price erosion”.
By contrast, the CIS region showed a 20.6% y-o-y increase in sales to €178.8m. Of this, sales in Russia were up by 14.5% y-o-y to €125.8m. Richter noted that the new pricing regime introduced in Russia in April did not materially affect its sales during this period. Sales in Ukraine surged 30.5% y-o-y to €19.7m, helped by a stabilisation in the political environment. Sales in the other CIS countries jumped by 43.5% y-o-y to €33.3m, led by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, but the strong result is flattered by a low base.
Finally, in the United States Richter recorded a 4.7% y-o-y decline in dollar terms to $66.8m (in euro terms sales were down by 3.8% y-o-y to €50.7m), as strong sales of its finished form emergency contraceptive Plan B OneStep was not enough to offset declines in sales of Plan B, API sales and price erosion.