“There are more than 500 pharmacies. We cannot provide a list because that is very difficult to do. Some pharmacies are subject to deals, relocation, reorganization etc, just like with any dynamic company,” Catena officials said.
There are about 7,000 retail pharmacies in Romania, according to the 2012 National Statistics Institute data, so Catena accounts for more than 7% of the total.
Catena has been the most active chain in terms of expansion in the last few years, climbing to the top spot among pharmacy networks. It had 430 pharmacies at the end of 2012, up from the 250 in May 2011.
The Fildas group, one of the largest local pharmaceutical groups, which also includes the wholesaler by the same name, started developing its own retail pharmacy chain in 2000, when it bought Argesfarm from the government. At the time Argesfarm had 60 pharmacies (equally divided between the rural and urban areas). As the network developed, several companies were established to operate the pharmacies. The largest of them is Farmaceutical Argesfarm.
Catena officials announced the network had 480 pharmacies at the end of 2013, which generated EUR338 million revenue and EUR16 million net profit. The chain had 2,950 employees.
The owner of the Fildas group, entrepreneur Anca Vlad, is one of the best-known female entrepreneurs of Romania and founded the group twenty-three years ago.
Fildas is among the leading local pharmaceutical wholesalers, having posted EUR290 million revenue in 2013, according to the Finance Ministry website.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)