Slovenian drugmaker Krka reports 16 pct jump in Q1 group net profit
LJUBLJANA, May 23 (Reuters) - Slovenian generic drugs producer Krka reported a 16 percent jump in first-quarter net profit to 49.4 million euros ($58.08 million) due to higher sales and cost cutting.
Sales rose by 5 percent to 338.3 million euros, while costs fell by 3 percent, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
It said Scandinavia saw the highest growth of sales of its prescription drugs among Krka's large markets with an increase of 37 percent, while the Czech Republic rose 25 percent and Croatia grew 17 percent.
It added total sales of prescription drugs were up by 6 percent while sales of non-prescription products increased by 11 percent.
It confirmed its target to achieve 2018 net profit of 153 million euros on sales of 1.3 billion euros, with sales growth of at least 5 percent each year until 2022. ($1 = 0.8505 euros) (Reporting by Marja Novak, editing by Louise Heavens)
