The drug manufacturer Stada grew strongly in the first half of the year.
The company also benefited from the strong exchange rate of the Russian ruble despite the Ukraine war, which supported the important business of the Hessians in Russia.
In the first six months of the year, Stada increased sales by 17 percent compared to the same period last year to 1.76 billion euros, as the group announced in Bad Vilbel.
The bottom line is that profit grew to 169 million euros after 111 million euros in the first half of 2021. The Russia business, which accounts for around 15 percent of sales at Stada, has developed “broadly” like the group as a whole, said one company spokesman.
Stada recently employed about a sixth of the global workforce of around 12,500 people in Russia.
Despite the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the group had not withdrawn from Russia and justified it with the supply of medicines to the people.
In the meantime, Stada has put a factory in Kyiv back into operation, it was said.
Large supplier of generic medicines
Sales of over-the-counter medicines, including the cold medicine Grippostad, rose particularly strongly in the first half of the year.
Stada benefited from medicines that the Hessians had taken over from the French Sanofi group.
But the business with imitation drugs and special pharmaceuticals, for example against Parkinson's, also increased.
Stada is one of the largest suppliers of over-the-counter drugs and generic drugs in Europe.
With the support of the financial investors Bain and Cinven, who took over Stada in 2017, the company spent a lot of money on acquisitions and accepted high debts.