Pharmacy Chain 36.6 plans to repay most debt over 5 years
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Pharmacy Chain 36.6 plans to clear either all or most of its debt in the next five years, Andrei Slivchenko, the company's CEO, said at the Russian Retail Trade forum, organized by the Adam Smith Institute.
The pharmacy chain has overall debt of just over 9 billion rubles, of which about 4 billion rubles is from a 5-year Sberbank loan, which it does not make sense to refinance in the next four years, he said. The company is holding talks with various banks about refinancing the rest of the debt.
"The main objective is to ensure financial stability and to provide the opportunity to implement strategy in two formats, increase traffic, accumulate profit and clear either all or a considerable part of the loan portfolio over 5 years," Slivchenko said.
Asked about opportunities for raising financing from funds, he said this option is already being considered. A fund could become a shareholder in the company by buying free float shares. Pharmacy Chain 36.6 is not planning an additional share issue, but "reaching an agreement with shareholders, consolidating some packages - that is probably possible," he said.
The company plans to publish its financial report for 2011 to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in May. "I hope there is a profit," he said.
Pharmacy Chain 36.6 is currently re-branding 36.6 pharmacies into a new discount format that it is developing called Leko. So far 120 outlets have been re-branded, or 25% of the chain. If the new format shows positive results, more 36.6 pharmacies may be turned into Leko pharmacies, but that does not mean the chain will not develop its 36.6 chain, Slivchenko said.
The company currently manages around 1,000 pharmacies in Russia.