Russian health and drugstore chain Pharmacy 36.6 saw its first quarter net profit plummet 99 percent year-on-year to two million rubles ($61,700) to IFRS, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pharmacy 36.6’s first quarter financial result was above a consensus forecast of analysts polled by RIA Novosti who expected net loss at 86 million rubles ($2.65 million). The company’s sales grew 5.6 percent in January-March 2012 to 5.59 billion rubles with first quarter EBITDA rising 14.2 percent to 506 million rubles.
The company was unavailable for immediate comment on the reason for its net profit fall.
The company opened 30 pharmacies and closed 56 pharmacies in the first three months of 2012 as well as converted 146 pharmacies into ‘Leko’ low-price format. Pharmacy 36.6 operated 979 pharmacies and nine optical stores as of March 31, 2012.
Under Russia’s Pharmexpert market research center report, shares of 50 Russian leading pharmacy chains at the local retail market started falling in the first quarter of 2012 due to the higher tax burden on large market players from last year, while small pharmacy chains and separate outlets maintained their tax breaks.