Pharmaceuticals Galenica continues growth in the third quarter

Galenica continued to grow in the first nine months of the year. The pharmacy group confirms its previous outlook for the year as a whole.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Galenica put sales in the Logistics & IT Business sector at CHF 2.36 billion (+4.5%). The Products & Care Business sector increased sales by 4.0 percent to 1.24 billion Swiss francs.

Taking into account "Corporate and eliminations" of -740.2 million, the Group reported sales at Group level of 2.86 billion Swiss francs (+4.1%). For the third quarter, this means sales of around CHF 964 million.

The development in the third quarter was additionally supported by the widespread colds, the company announced. Meanwhile, the negative impact of the estimated -0.8 percent drop in sales at the end of June compared to the same period in the previous year had been offset by the end of September.

In general, the high sales of generics and biosimilars continued to have a dampening effect on growth. The generics substitution rate in Galenica pharmacies stabilized at a high level of 80.3 percent at the end of September compared to the middle of the year.

A premiere

Galenica's nine-month figures are a premiere. Only this year has the company started publishing interim results at this time. Accordingly, no prior-year figures were available and most analysts refrained from making an estimate. UBS, for example, was an exception. The turnover now achieved is pretty much in line with the expectations of the major bank's analyst.

Looking to the future, Galenica confirmed its previous outlook. The Group anticipates sales growth of between 3 and 5 percent for 2024 as a whole. Operating profit EBIT is expected to grow faster at 8 to 11 percent. The dividend is again expected to be at least at the previous year's level.

SDA