E Merck Sales And Profits Higher At 9 Mths

Sales of the German drugs and chemical group E Merck advanced 9.4% to 4.8 billion Deutschemarks ($3 billion), including the sales of Amerpharm, the generics company acquired by Merck in April.

Chairman Joachim Langmann said that the improved economic position of the group was mainly due to improved business in Germany, where sales in the first ten months of 1994 rose 6%, in contrast to 1993 when the impact of the health reform legislation pushed sales sharply downwards.

Merck Deutschland, the parent company E Merck in Darmstadt, and the German subsidiaries together increased sales in the nine-month period 9.1% to 1.9 billion marks. Last year they fell 6.6%. Profits growth this year has also been satisfactory, Mr Langmann said. Pretax profits rose 49% to 390 million marks.