Western Europe helps push H1 profit higher for Slovenia's Krka (updated)

Krka dd Novo Mesto

26/08/2015 12:24

(Adds detail, quotes, share price) 
    LJUBLJANA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Strong sales in Germany and 
other parts of Western Europe  helped Slovenian pharmaceutical 
company Krka  KRKG.LJ  to report five percent higher first half 
profit, compensating for weaker returns from Russia. 
    Generic drug maker Krka, Slovenia's largest listed company, 
had group net profit of 112.3 million euros ($128.7 million) in 
the first half of 2015, up from 106.6 million euros a year ago, 
the company said on Wednesday. 
    Revenue was little changed at 600 million euros but there 
were big regional swings within that figure. 
    Sales in Russia fell 15 percent to 134 million euros because 
the value of the rouble was about 26 percent lower compared to 
the same period of 2014. Russia represents 22 percent of Krka's 
total sales. 
    Sales were up by a third in Western Europe overall and 
jumped 52 percent in Germany thanks to strong sales of drugs for 
the central nervous system.    
    Krka also said it would release provisions of 20 million 
euros after winning a dispute with Astrazeneca  AZN.L  in 
Britain. The gain would be reflected in results at the end of 
the year, the company said. 
    It confirmed its forecast that profit this year would be 
similar to 2014's profit of 166.2 million euros, on sales of 1.3 
billion euros versus 1.2 billion in 2014. 
    "Krka's results are in line with expectations so I expect no 
major impact on the share price," said Saso Stanovnik, chief 
economist of investment firm Alta Invest, adding that Krka's 
weakness remains its strong dependence on Russia. 
     Shares of Krka, about 29 percent owned by the state, rose 
by 0.33 percent to 60 euros by 1115 GMT, after the results were 
released, while the blue-chip SBI index  .SBITOP  lost 0.6 
percent. 
($1 = 0.8726 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by David Clarke and Keith 
Weir) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: KRKA PROFIT/