Zentiva's 1st-half 2007 earnings slide 6.8%

Czech drugmaker Zentiva, which is 25%-owned by French pharmaceutical major Sanofi-Aventis, says that profits in the first six months of 2007 fell 6.8% to 831.3 million koruna ($40.7 million). The firm said that the decline was a result of the difficult environment in its home market, increased investment in its sales and marketing force and higher costs for its Romanian operations.

Despite the shortfall, pharmaceutical sales for the period were up 8.7% to 6.76 billion koruna, representing 93.4% of gross revenues. The firm said that turnover growth in key markets such as Romania, up 21.3% to 1.33 billion koruny, Slovakia, which increased 17.1% to 1.08 billion koruna and Poland, up 11.6% to 988.8 million koruny, had been key to the expansion. Commenting on the results, company chief executive Jiri Michal was upbeat, stating that, "in Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Russia and the Ukraine...we have continued to deliver growth well ahead of, or in line with, the markets and our peers."