Slovenia's Krka nine-month net profit up 12 pct (updated)

Krka dd Novo Mesto

14/11/2013 12:18

* 2013 profit seen slightly above 160 mln euros * 2014 sales seen up by 4 pct (Adds quote, share price, details, background) LJUBLJANA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Generic drugs maker Krka KRKG.LJ  KRK.WA , Slovenia's largest listed company, posted nine-month net profit of 124.9 million euros ($1.67 billion), up 12 percent on the same period in 2012. Earnings were boosted by a 24-percent rise in sales in Eastern Europe, the region which accounts for more than a third of the company's revenue. Krka is one of Slovenia's largest exporters. Overall sales grew 5 percent to 857.8 million euros and the company forecast they would reach 1.25 billion euros next year compared to the 1.2 billion expected in 2013. It said it expected sales to rise by at least 5 percent per year on average from 2014 to 2018. Krka expects 2013 net profit to be slightly above the 159.8 million euros reached in 2012, in line with its earlier forecast, while profit in 2014 should be similar to this year's. Shares in Krka, which has market capitalisation of about 2 billion euros, eased by 0.87 percent to 57 euros by 1200 on Thursday.  ($1 = 0.7460 euros)  (Reporting By Marja Novak; editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Tom Pfeiffer) ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com)(+386-1-4700520)(Reuters Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SLOVENIA KRKA/