The Sensiblu retail pharmacy network, the largest in Romania, will end this year with over 300 pharmacies, an extremely aggressive development considering it had 240 at the beginning of the year. To get to this number, Sensiblu bought the 24 Farma Planet pharmacies in 2011.
The expansion of the retail group will continue in 2012.
“We are looking at acquisition, as well as greenfield investment opportunities for Sensiblu,” Robert Popescu, chief executive officer of A&D Pharma told ZF.
The group budgeted single-digit growth for 2012, a year it considers to be difficult for the industry. Other than Sensiblu, it includes pharmaceuticals distributor Mediplus, a marketing & sales division and the Anima clinics.
This is the first estimate that Popescu has made after several years during which A&D Pharma did not provide such data because of the restrictions it had to comply with as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange.
In March this year, A&D Pharma, which was established by businessmen Walid Abboud, Roger Akoury, Ludovic Robert and Michael Eid, delisted from the London Stock Exchange where it was listed in the fall of 2006. The founders thus increased their ownership in the group at about 97%.
Mediplus and Sensiblu posted EUR788 million sales together in 2010, up 20% on 2009.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)