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Drug maker Sanjiu's profits surge 87% in 2008

By Tong Hao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-16 18:32

Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co posted an 87 percent surge in its net profits in 2008.

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Business revenue of the Shenzhen-based company increased by 24 percent to 4.32 billion yuan ($632 million) in 2008, realizing a profit of 500 million yuan, according to the annual financial report the company filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on March 14.

Sanjiu forecasted its business revenue to increase by 6.74 percent to 4.6 billion yuan in 2009, which would mean a net profit of 650 million yuan.

The report said Sanjiu would expand its business scope through mergers and acquisitions, speed its pace in launching new products and enlarge its market share in areas below county level.

The report said business revenue of its pharmaceutical operations increased by 18.8 percent.

In 2008, many industries in China such as textile and auto were seriously hit by the global financial crisis. However, the gross output value of China's pharmaceutical industry increased by 25 percent, reaching 791.2 billion yuan, and the market size increased by 21.4 percent to 464.2 billion yuan, according to statistics in the report.

"Pharmaceutical industry doesn't have much connection with macroeconomic fluctuation because demand for medical care keeps stable. People need medicine when they get sick," said Yao Jie, an industrial analyst with Everbright Securities.

Sanjiu estimates the country's pharmaceutical industry will continue to grow in coming years due to the impending government reform of the medical care system.

China has announced an 850-billion-yuan investment in the country's medical care system reform in the next three years.

"The reform will spur medicine consumption; thus the pharmaceutical industry in China will maintain a fast-developing pace in the long run," Yao said.

He added that pharmaceutical companies in China should also pay more attention to research and development, saying that the Chinese pharmaceutical industry lags behind in R&D compared with foreign competitors.