Richter Gedeon has mixed fortunes in 2004
profits in 2004, although its active pharmaceutical ingredient
(API) business remained under pressure in the US.
The company said sales reached HUF 121.5 billion (€498m), a rise of 4. per cent on 2003. Net income and diluted earnings per share reached HUF 37.61 billion and HUF 2,018, respectively, both up nearly 12 per cent.
In dollar terms, exports amounted to $424m (€330m) for the year, an increase of 15 per cent, although the division was held back by lower supplies some active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), notably corticosteroids, to US healthcare firm Johnson & Johnson. This led to a 9 per cent decline in US exports to $84m, and more than offset the sale of hormonal APIs to Richter's strategic partner Barr Laboratories, which makes generic drugs.
Meanwhile, sales to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries leapt 33 per cent to $154m, with Russia accounting for $109m, up 39 per cent on 2003. Shipments to the European Union were also up 9 per cent to €99m, driven by sales in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and France, which more than offset decreased sales in Germany.
Domestic sales, which are under a price control situation until 2006, still managed a 4.7 per cent hike to HUF 35.7bn. Richter said that conditions improved somewhat in the second half of the year, after the Constitutional Court in May overturned a government decree freezing all pharmaceutical prices at 85 per cent of prior levels.
