“We didn’t do anything special for this growth, it’s a natural trend,” Iulian Trandafir, chief executive officer of Farmexpert, told ZF.
The wholesaler is part of the Walgreens Boots Alliance group, an entity formed in December 2014, which operates in 25 countries and has more than 370,000 employees. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s retail division is the largest health and beauty retailer in the US and Europe, with a network of more than 13,000 stores. Farmexpert was founded by businessman Eugen Baciu, who sold it in three deals, the last of which closed in 2013.
Farmexpert revenue has been growing steadily over the last few years, reaching RON2.65 billion at the end of 2014, according to Finance Ministry data. Net profit rose to RON103 million, while rival Mediplus tripled its profit to RON44 million. Farmexpert was RON1 billion behind Mediplus in terms of revenue at the end of 2013 and has since narrowed the gap.
“We constantly optimize our [distribution] processes throughout the year, this is one of the factors that support growth. Another factor was the insolvency of some rivals,” Trandafir said.
Farmexpert’s CEO did not offer any estimates for this year because the market is facing a lot of uncertainties.
“We expect a reset of drug prices this year. We are also waiting to see how high the clawback tax (a tax specific to the pharmaceutical industry i.e.) will be in the third quarter, and then we will get a clearer picture. It’s very hard for me to provide any figures because we are in a very unclear area,” Trandafir explained.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)