Good Growth In 1996 1st Qtr For Human

In the first quarter of 1996, Hungarian pharmaceutical producer Human, in which Novopharm of Canada has a majority stake, achieved sales of 3.4 billion forint ($22.1 million), up 32% on sales achieved a year ago, and 7% ahead of expectations, according to MTI Econews. Domestic sales increased 33% to 3.1 billion forint, and exports amounted to 292.3 million forint, lower than in the like, year-earlier period. However, higher exports are predicted for the second quarter of the year.

Gross profits were 199.6 million forint in the quarter. For 1995 as a whole, the company posted gross profits of 496 million forint.

For the current year, Human expects to achieve sales of 8.4 million forint, of which 6.5 billion forint will come from turnover of Human's own products. The firm expects gross profits to come in at 600 million forint, a rise of 21%.