A shot in the arm

According to its Q3 report, Bioton, a bourse-listed biotechnology firm, earned a net profit of zł.51 million, in comparison to zł.4.4 million in the same period last year. At the same time, the group's sales revenues reached zł.56.3 million.

"On the one hand, increased sales on the national and export markets are responsible for this result. Another thing is the settlement of the transaction to buy the Singapore-based firm Scigen. In agreement with international standards, the company executed an appraisal of the value of its equitable assets," said the firm's vice president, Piotr Wielesik.

The company had previously announced that the establishment of insulin exports to Russia would contribute to the increased profits. However, the company lowered its expectations for net profit for the year from the earlier estimation of over zł.100 million. "One could hazard a guess at estimations for the end of this year - zł.90 million in net profit with gross profit higher than zł.100 million," said company president Adam Wilczęga.

He explained that the forecasts had been lowered due to delays in exports to Russia and a later-than-expected start-up of a factory in Ukraine.  (Reuters)