Fresenius 1996 Profit Up 45%; Share Issue

German dialysis and pharmaceutical company Fresenius AG saw pretaxprofits for 1996 of 132 million Deutschemarks ($77.1 million), a jump of 45% (on a pro forma basis) on the previous year. Preliminary figures show that sales rose by nearly two-thirds to 3.64 billion marks. Some 2.28 billion marks of turnover was generated in the USA, where Fresenius acquired the dialysis chain National Medical Care from W R Grace, and formed Fresenius Medical Care. Earnings per share were up from 5.17 marks to 7.05 marks.

The company also announced that it will issue two million new preferred shares later this year to fund further expansion; it plans to invest around 750 million in 1997, of which 550 million marks will go to FMC. According to analysts quoted in the Financial Times, the issue could raise around 600 million marks. It also quotes BZW analysts as saying that while Fresenius' sales figure was below expectations, net profits were in line with forecasts.