Richter Gedeon's 1st-qtr profits fall 46%

Hungarian drugmaker Richter Gedeon says that, for the three months to March 31, 2007, its net profit was 7.98 billion forint ($43.7 million), down 46.1% on the comparable period last year. The company's diluted earnings per share were also down 46.1% to 429.0 forint.

Company chief executive Erik Bogsch said that the Hungarian government's tough measures to control the country's budget deficit, the widest in the European Union, were partly to blame for the plunge in profits. He added that the firm would reduce its investment activities in an attempt to counter the new laws that may reduce annual earnings by as much as 10.0 billion forint, according to a report on Bloomberg news. The firm also said that a drop in sales, down 3.4% to 51.01 billion forint, had impacted on its earnings for the period. Revenues from its home market were down 4.8% to 12.58 billion forint, while those from export markets fell 2.9% to 38.43 billion.

Richter's share price slipped 0.5% to 36,860 forint in trading on the Budapest stock exchange on the day of the announcement, May 8.