SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - Bosnia's largest pharmaceutical company Bosnalijek expects revenue and exports to rise this year by 20 and 70 percent respectively, its general manager said yesterday.
The firm, which has a 23 percent market share, posted 2006 revenue of 88 million Bosnian Marks (66.1 million US Dollars), a 4 percent rise on the previous year while exports increased by 25 percent, Edin Arslanagic told a press conference in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.
"We will continue the strong performance this year after Bosnalijek added new markets for some of its 200 products in Kazakhstan, Congo, Azerbaijan, Algeria and Cameroon." he said.
He added that the firm already exports to many Balkan and former Soviet Union states, as well as to Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
Bosnalijek suffered heavy damage during the the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia and was Bosnia's sole drug company until early 2003.
The government of the FBIH entity, last year swapped a 9 percent stake in Bosnalijek for its $12.9 million debt to Libya.
It still holds a 19.8 percent stake in the firm, while 9.4 percent belongs to the World Bank's private equity arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the remainder to employees and investment funds.
The FBIH entity government has said it planned to offer its remaining stake for sale on the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE).
"Such move could help increase our competitiveness," said Arslanagic and added that company is looking for a strategic partner.
Bosnalijek's shares were among the top traded on the SASE in 2007 and its market value stood at 285 million Bosnian Marks (214 million US Dollars), an increase of 27 percent on the year before, Arslanagic said.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment