“We are optimistic about the mid to long-term growth of the Romanian economy,” Schremmer said at his first meeting with the media since becoming managing director of Bayer Romania, a company with EUR147 million in revenue last year.
The company believes there is growth potential in agriculture, which will have an impact on it as a supplier. It is also saw positive signals from the automotive sector and good prospects for the pharmaceutical business after the subsidized drug list was updated, Schremmer added.
The International Monetary Fund and the Romanian government are somewhat more cautious in their estimates about economic growth, which they see at 2% this year and then stable at 2% to 3% on medium term.
Andreas Schremmer, 46, was appointed managing director of Bayer Romania this February. He had previously worked in Thailand as chief financial officer of the region in 2008-2013. He is now CFO country group Romania and Bulgaria, as well.
Bayer group posted almost EUR40 billion in revenue last year via three lines of business: Healthcare (pharmaceutical drugs – 48% of the total revenue), CropScience (crop protection products – 22%) and Material Science (products used in the furniture, home appliances and automotive industries).
Its global sales increased by 4.7% in the first nine months of the year and Schremmer says Bayer Romania contributed to this growth especially because of the good development of the CropScience and MaterialScience businesses. He did not provide further details.
While drug sales generate almost half of the revenue of the group worldwide, the healthcare business contributes only 36% in Romania. Products sold to farmers contribute 37%. Andreas Schremmer did not say how things stood before 2012.
Bayer Romania posted growth of 11% in 2012 from the EUR132 million in 2011, according to the data provided by the company.
Bayer Romania sells both prescription and over-the-counter drugs and ranked 18th among pharmaceutical companies in the country in October 2012-September 2013, according to market research company Cegedim Romania. Its market share stands at 1.8%.
The higher contribution of the sales to the farming sector may be due to the pharmaceutical industry becoming more difficult and slowing down its growth pace. Whereas it used to grow at a rate of 20% to 30% a year in the past, it should be flat this year. Medicine sales stood at EUR2.6 billion in 2012.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)