Bulgaria's pharmaceuticals company Sopharma announced plans for aggressive foreign expansion, Ognian Donev, the company's chief executive and chair of the board of directors, told Bloomberg newswire in an interview published on March 12.

In 2008 the company is set to buy assets in Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Poland in what should be an attempt to raise sales and its bottom line.

Sopharma targets a 20 per cent increase in revenues and 17 per cent rise in net profit this year, Donev told Bloomberg. Last year, net profit was up 17 per cent to 32 million leva on revenues of 355 million leva, an increase by 72 per cent. This gave the company to a 20 per cent share of the Bulgarian generic drugs market, second only to Iceland-based Actavis Group, which controls 33 per cent of the market, according to Martin Schloh of A.T. Kearney consultancy.

“Sopharma is likely to face steeper competition in Poland and Romania, both of which are part of the European Union, with many players on the market,” said Ilian Scarlatov, capital markets director at Sofia International Securities brokerage, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We have yet to see how the Polish project will work out.”

Sopharma is the non-financial blue chip on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange with its sectoral exposure spanning pharmaceuticals, real estate, trade, shipping, health insurance and a hospital, according to Donev.

Donev would not name which companies targeted by Sopharma's takeover plans. Yet he said that Sopharma was to soon buy a pharmaceutical plant in Serbia, once the local financial regulator gives its assent to the deal.

Buying a plant in Ukraine makes economic sense because Sopharma is the second-largest player on the Ukrainian drug supply market. Besides, the company purchased last year Ukraine-based OAO Vitaminy and its facilities are to soon undergo renovation and expansion.

Regarding Poland, the Bulgarian company has tied up with local peer Natur Produkt Zdrovit. The joint venture has plans to build a pharmaceutical plant in Poland.

Donev would not rule out plant purchases in Macedonia and Latvia as well.

Sopharma's expansion plans are reasonable in view of the company's export-oriented approach. At present the company is present on 28 markets, the more notable ones being Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Exports account for 60 per cent of Sopharma's sales. In 2007, exports rose 40 per cent.