GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY KEY TO SCHERING-PLOUGH

One of the key strengths of the US pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough is its geographic diversity, Robert Luciano, chairman and chief executive of the company told a meeting of US analysts at the end of June. The company has just over half of its total sales in the USA. Its businesses, which include pharmaceuticals, health and personal care products, vision care and animal health products, are carefully targeted therapeutic areas, with no single area accounting for more than 35% of sales.

Mr Luciano said that, internationally, the company continues to grow with sales quadrupling over the past decade. It has been among the five fastest-growing drug companies internationally in each of the last five years, outperforming the market by 10% over the same period.

"Schering-Plough continues to be the same stable, healthy, well-balanced company as in years past, with superior growth thanks to a number of important new products and in-line products," Mr Luciano told the analysts. He was upbeat about the company's future and said that he expects to announce another solid performance for 1994.