Boehringer Mannheim To Focus On Growth

Prospects seem favorable for the German drugmaker Boehringer Mannheim, despite a turbulent 1994, in which attention for some eight months was focussed on the power struggle over the group holding company, Corange Ltd (Marketletters passim).

The new head of the drugs division and executive committee spokesman, Gerald Moeller, says that 1994 was not actually a bad year for the group, which saw strong growth in the three main areas of its activity - drugs, diagnostics and orthopedics - generating sales estimated provisionally at $3.46 billion. Profits are expected to have improved against a background of cuts in the workforce, and the parent company, with sales of 2.24 billion Deutschemarks ($1.46 billion), reported record operating earnings of 210 million marks.

Dr Moeller says group diagnostic turnover is to be expanded to a level of $3.3 billion worldwide by the end of the century, with world market share rising from 10% to 14%. The smaller drugs sector will double its sales over the next five years, he forecasts, adding that strategic planning has been put on a more realistic basis.