Cosmetics to account for 20% in Help Net turnover

Isabelle Iacob, the general manager of the Help Net Pharma drugstore network, says the company”s priority this year is to get ready for the moment of integration, and not to boost sales.

However, the first three months of this year brought Help Net an increase in turnover of about 50% compared with the first quarter of 2005, to 8.5 million euros.

“For 2006, we anticipate turnover will reach 47.5 million euros, up from 26.5 million euros last year, in accordance with the number of opened pharmacies,” explains Isabelle Iacob.

Last year, the company”s investment budget amounted to approximately 1.5 million euros, which targeted the opening of new drugstores. As a result, the number of Help Net pharmacies was 65% higher than in 2004.

“This year we”ve again earmarked an investment of 1.5 million euros for the opening of new pharmacies. We estimate we will have 120 drugstores countrywide at the end of this year,” adds Isabelle Iacob.

Lately, pharmacy chains have seemingly been focusing on the sale of cosmetics, a tendency that will become even more visible over the following period, according to Help Net representative.

“We are clearly positioned as a pharmacy, but our patients are increasingly interested in dermato-cosmetics, which in a pharmacy have the additional advantage of being recommended by specialists. Thus, we estimate this product segment will account for 20% of our turnover in the near future,” explains the representative of Help Net Pharma. With the prospects of solid growth that domestic pharmacy chains have witnessed, foreign investors have become increasingly attracted to this market.

Thus, almost every one of them is open to options. “The growth it has witnessed over recent years, as well as the active presence on the market and the strong brand name have turned Help Net in a highly attractive company for investors.

We”ve received offers from investment funds, as well as from strategic investors,” says Iacob. She did not offer any additional information regarding this matter.

Iacob is not ruling out possible acquisitions of some market players, either. “As we are permanently expanding, we are actively considering every opportunity,” says Iacob.

Last year, the A&D company, which includes the Mediplus distributor and the Sensiblu pharmacy chain purchased Europharm pharmacies from GlaxoSmithKline.

A similar deal was done by Montero, a company operating in the drug distribution and retail, acquiring the 13-unit network owned by Lithuania”s Eurofarmacia.

For now, Help Net does not plan to expand outside the country, focusing instead on development on the domestic market. ioana.david@zf.ro