Arkopharma Expansion Strategy Way To New Markets

French producer of plant-based drugs in gel form, Arkopharma, haslaunched a strategy of international expansion and put the emphasis on its international business, which currently accounts for 26% of its total turnover. The company posted sales of 420 million French francs ($71.1 million) for first-half 1997, a rise of 14%.

Arkopharma has decided for the first time to set up a production unit outside France, and will invest some 15 million francs - a third of the 1997 investment budget - in a plant in Ireland, which will form a base for its penetration of northern and eastern European markets.

The Irish location is favored by a benevolent tax regime and lower social costs than those in France. However, the company has expanded its site near Nice, and president Max Rombi has said he does not exclude acquisitions in order to reinforce the company's presence in the German and USA markets, where sales are weak. He added that it is vital to manufacture on a site across the Atlantic in order to establish a market presence, and Arkopharma would do this within two years, motivated by a US gels market growing at 25% a year and currently worth $4 billion.