ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - Croatia's pharmaceutical company "Pliva" realised total income of 1.98 billion kuna (approximately 271 million US dollars) in the first six months of this year or seven percent more than last year. Of it, 60
percent was achieved on international markets, said Pliva management's chairman, Zeljko Covic, at Monday's news conference.
ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - Croatia's pharmaceutical company "Pliva"
realised total income of 1.98 billion kuna (approximately 271
million US dollars) in the first six months of this year or seven
percent more than last year. Of it, 60 percent was achieved on
international markets, said Pliva management's chairman, Zeljko
Covic, at Monday's news conference.#L#
The Pliva management is satisfied with results reached in the first
half of 1999 in view to unfavourable circumstances.
In this context Covic pointed to unsolved problems of collection of
outstanding debts from the Croatian Health Insurance Institute
(HZZO). These debts are currently amounting to almost 500 million
kuna (approximately 68 million dollars).
According to information from the Croatian Government, most of
these debts will be paid by the end of this month, when means from
the sale of some shares in the Croatian Telecommunications (HT) to
foreign investors should be poured into the budget, Covic said.
Covic also apologised to Croatian consumers, namely patients who
had problems to obtain medicines recently. Pliva had partly caused
such situation, but the company could not give drugs free, Covic
told reporters.
Regarding Pliva's business abroad, it has had a seven percent
increase in medicines sale in Poland.
The company has faced problems with the appearance of fake
'azitromicin-Sumamed' at markets in Russia and China. Therefore,
the Croatian company has lost five million dollars. Additional
costs were incurred by the withdrawal of Sumamed from those markets
and by the change of packing so that security marks could be put on
packing material of this famous antibiotic of Pliva.
These were some of reasons for a seven percent decrease in the net
profit of the company which totalled 377 million kuna (46 million
dollars). The profit dropped due to short-term loans for coverage
of debts from Croatian firms as well as due to costs of the
restructuring of Pliva.
The sale of Sumamed on the U.S. market is going on very well. This
antibiotic will be registered for the market in Japan either at the
end of 1999 or in the beginning of 2000.
In the first six months Pliva increased its investments in research
and development by 43 percent so that total investments came to 367
million kuna (50 million dollars), Covic said.
(hina) ms