“We are expecting a rise in the price of shares on the Stock Exchange, because results regarding profitability are better than expected,” said the company’s CEO, Robert Popescu, at the end of a restructuring process which included a downsizing of staff by 500 employees, to 3,100 people, a 12 percent cut in operating costs, and portfolio selection based on strict profitability criteria.
The exchange rate bit off €24 mln of the company’s net sales. “The group focuses not on net sales but rather on market share and profitability. But the market share is costly,” Popescu said.
The Mediplus distribution division registered a six percent drop in business, to €164 mln, contributing €7 mln to the group’s net profit. As far as Sensiblu is concerned, which includes 219 pharmacies, the group intended to raise the profitability of each location and relocate unprofitable units.
According to Popescu, the 48 percent rise in the average sales receipt, to €9.8 in H1 2009, from €6.6 last year, is due to drug prescriptions for cancer and diabetes, which were liberalized in 2008. The company has cash reserves of nearly €20 mln, three times higher than in mid-2008, as the summer months are the driest in terms of this indicator, according to Chief Financial Officer Dimitris Sophocleous.
