Pfizer Romania posts 1.3m-euro profit

Pfizer Romania SRL, which operates on the pharmaceutical market in Romania, posted 60.3 million RON (16.6 million euros) in turnover, and gross profit of about 4.8 million RON (1.3 million euros) last year, according to data published in the Official Gazette.
Pfizer representatives specified a comparison with data recorded in 2004 would be irrelevant as the company was registered in 2004, and only operated for a few months of that year.
Pfizer entered the Romanian pharmaceutical market in 1993, when it opened a representative office. In 2005, the average number of Pfizer Romania SRL employees stood at 189 people.
Stanley Mendoca has recently been appointed head of Pfizer Romania, having previously worked as a marketing manager of Pfizer Portugal. He replaces Regis Lhomme, who in turn took the reigns of Pfizer Russia.
Regis Lhomme had been in charge of the operations of the American giant since 2000.
Pfizer is the largest pharmaceuticals producer worldwide, with its products including Viagra, the best-known drug for treating erectile dysfunctions.
The pharmaceutical market in Romania reached 1.27 billion euros last year, an increase of about 18% compared with 2004. Growth will be steady this year, with most players talking about a 15% increase.
The steady growth potential is what makes the market increasingly more attractive to foreign investors and at the same time raises the value of the domestic players. Subsequently, the amounts paid for domestic players lately revolve around half a billion euros.
The Czechs at Zentiva bought drugmaker Sicomed at the end of last year, with the Icelanders at Actavis purchasing cancer drugs producer Sindan this year. The most important transaction, however, is the acquisition of Terapia by the Indian-based Ranbaxy, which paid 324 million dollars, a record high for the pharmaceutical industry of Romania.