Fresenius Forges Ahead On Acquisition Trail

German pharmaceutical and medical technology group Fresenius has said that it will continue to pursue its present policy of acquisitions on the world market. The company's drive to increased internationalization is reflected in a virtual doubling of group sales between 1990 and 1994 to a level of 2.04 billion Deutschemarks ($1.49 billion), with net profits rising in the same period from 10.4 million marks to 71.3 million marks. Further expansion in international markets will enable group turnover to rise by a further 10% in 1995, with profits rising faster.

Despite negative exchange rate influences, Fresenius increased sales in the first quarter of 1995 by 13% to 534 million marks, largely helped by business outside Germany and led by sales of dialysis technology (56%). Group net profits in the quarter went up 15% to 15 million marks.

Company chairman Gerd Krick said that the aim of developing in markets could only be achieved through acquisitions. Total investment in 1995 will reach 200 million marks, and at the end of 1996 the company's new fully-automated pharmaceutical production plant at Friedberg, Germany, will be put into operation, cutting 250 jobs from the workforce requirement for a conventional plant of this size.