Best Results So Far For ASTA Medica

ASTA Medica, part of the German chemical group Degussa, said that thefinancial year 1995/96 produced the best results so far in its history.

For the ASTA Medica group of consolidated companies, sales were 1.4 billion Deutschemarks ($849.3 million), an increase on the previous year of 1.9%. Pretax group earnings were 111.1 million marks, up 10.8%. Group net income, prior to profit transfer, rose 2.7% to 73.2 million marks. Furthermore, ASTA Medica says that without the extraordinary expenditure on structural changes at affiliate Arzneimittelwerk Dresden, earnings would have amounted to 49 marks per share, compared with the per share income recorded of 42 marks.

At ASTA Medica AG, the disappointing domestic business component resulted in a drop in sales of 2.2% to 518.2 million marks. This was due primarily to the expiry of the licensing agreement for Movergan (selegiline), used to treat Parkinson's disease, and reduced sales of allergy preparations as a result of the weather. Disregarding the sales of Movergan, a rise in revenues of 1.8% would have occurred.