Study says UK pharma failing to get best foreign exchange rates

UK pharmaceutical companies are failing to count the cost of buying andselling foreign currency by settling for less competitive bank rates, says a new survey carried out by Marketing Intelligence Services on behalf of MoneyCorp, a commercial foreign exchange dealer.

Entitled The Real Cost of Money, the study, conducted among financial directors and controllers of drug companies with turnovers of up to L50 million ($70.4 million) a year, identified that 80% will only deal with a bank when buying or selling foreign currency. With 37% of respondents making transactions of L100,000 more than once a month, Moneycorp estimates that up to L280 million per annum is being wiped off the bottom line, because those firms are not shopping around for more competitive rates, or using market movements to their advantage.

The survey went on to establish that: