Bulgaria's Sopharma Cuts 9-Mo Cons Net Profit despite Rise in Sales
Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma said on Thursday that its consolidated net profit, excluding interest attributable to minority shareholders in the group's subsidiaries, fell to 30.0 million levs ($17.4 million/15.3 million euro) in the first nine months of the year from 32.7 million levs in the same period of 2017.The company's sales revenue rose 19.6% year-on-year to 860.9 million levs in January-September, mainly due to the consolidation of Serbian drug trader Lekovit, Sopharma said in an interim financial statement. Sopharma's majority-owned unit Sopharma Trading acquired a 70% stake in Lekovit in August 2017.Sopharma booked 65% of its total sales in Bulgaria, while 33% came from exports to Europe. The drug maker booked total operating revenue of 872.0 million levs in the review period, up from 733.5 million levs in the comparable period of 2017.