Pharmacy Chain 36.6 ups sales 3% to 14.9 bln rubles in 2012
MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) - OJSC Pharmacy Chain 36.6 increased retail sales 3% to 14.9 billion rubles in 2012, the company reported.
Fourth-quarter retail sales were also up 3% - at 3.96 billion rubles.
Pharmacy sales revenues in Moscow for Q4 and 2012 entire were both up 8% at a respective 2 billion and 7.5 billion rubles, while regional sales revenues were down 2% at 1.9 billion rubles in Q4 and 1% at 7.4 billion rubles in 2012.
The number of sales receipts contracted 8% to 11 million in Q4 and 11% to 46 million in 2012. The drop in the number of receipts in Moscow was 6% to 18 million, but it was 14% in the regional to 28 million.
As of the end of last year, Pharmacy Chain 36.6 had 842 outlets in 24 regions of Russia - 49 pharmacies having opened organically last year and 212 closed. On December 31, the company was running eight optical stores and 24 optical sections within pharmacies.
Sales growth at LEKO discount pharmacies was 20% in Q4 and 13% for the year as a whole. The number of LEKO customers increased 9% for the quarter and 1% for the year. By the end of the year, there were 181 of these outlets.
Sales growth at comparable pharmacies amounted to 2% for both quarter and year, with the average like-for-like sales receipt growing 16% to 388 rubles. As of year-end, Pharmacy Chain 36.6 had 564 comparable pharmacies.
Own-brand product sales increased 48% last year to 2.98 billion rubles last year. Sales of these products relative to total sales were up 5 percentage points at 18%.
"The priority tasks for us in 2013 are resolving the question of the long-term financing of retail segment activities. Company management is taking all possible steps to increase the company's profitability and to search for solutions in the sphere of financing," the statement quotes General Director Marina Penkova as saying.
Pharmacy Chain 36.6 controls drug maker VeroPharm , although this company is being wooed by OJSC AFK Sistema and FAS has already given Sistema the green light for such a deal.
