OREANDA-NEWS. January 13, 2012. OJSC Pharmacy Chain 36.6 [RTS:APTK; MICEX:RU14APTK1007], the leading Russian pharmaceutical retailer, announces unaudited sales and operational results for Q3 and 9M 2011 according to the management accounts.

Group sales[1]

Group’s consolidated Net sales reached RUR 15 693.1 mln in 9M 2011 versus RUR 14 616.8 mln in 9M 2010, a 7.4% increase in ruble terms y-o-y;

Pharmacy Retail Gross sales (including VAT) increased by 11.7% in 9M 2011 in ruble terms and reached RUR 11 816.6 mln versus RUR 10 583.2 mln in 9M 2010. Pharmacy Retail Net Sales increased by 4.3% in 9M 2011 in ruble terms and reached RUR 10 571.5 mln versus RUR 10 138.1 mln in 9M 2010;

Net Sales of finished goods of the production unit Veropharm increased by 15.3% in 9M 2011 in ruble terms and reached RUR 4 534.1 mln versus RUR 3 934.0 mln in 9M 2010;

Non-core business Net sales increased by 12.2% in 9M 2011 in ruble terms and reached RUR 637.6 mln versus RUR 568.4 mln in 9M 2010;

Early Learning Center revenue consolidated by the Group (which is 50% of the total revenue) reached RUR 174.5 mln in 9M 2011, a 31.6% increase in ruble terms versus 9M 2010 (RUR 132.6 mln). As of the end of Q3 2011 Pharmacy Chain 36.6 operated 19 ELC stores.

Retail

In accordance with the provisions of the Tax Code, From 1 January 2011, changes restricting utilisation of the special tax regime — Imputed Earnings Tax (IET) for pharmaceutical organizations have taken effect. Thus all regional retail companies of the Group Pharmacy Chain 36.6 have switched to a common tax regime, effecting an exclusion of VAT from the Gross Sales.

In order to provide comparable statistics of sales performance of retail segment in Q3 and 9M 2011 versus Q3 and 9M 2010, hereinafter in this part of the press-release Sales figures and Average check data are given in Gross Sales including VAT.

Sales

Pharmacy Retail Gross Sales (including VAT) increased by 5.8% in Q3 2011 in ruble terms and reached RUR 3 762.2 mln versus RUR 3 555.8 mln in Q3 2010;

In Q3 2011 average check across the network (including VAT) stood at RUR 306.3, in Moscow – RUR 411.4, an increase of 23.2% and 17.5% respectively in ruble terms versus Q3 2010;

In 9M 2011 average check across the network (including VAT) increased by 24.4%in ruble terms and reached RUR 304.8, versus RUR 245.0 in 9M 2010;

As of the end of 9M 2011 Pharmacy Chain 36.6 operated 996 stores in 29 regions of Russia.

During Q3 2011 15 stores were opened organically and 2 stores wore closed;

During 9M 2011 28 stores were opened organically and 21 were closed;

During 9M 2011 99 stores were rebranded;

As of the end of 9M 2011 Pharmacy Chain 36.6 operated 10 stand-alone optical outlets and 21 additional optical departments within pharmacies.

Like-for-like sales in comparable stores[2]

As of the end of Q3 2011 Pharmacy Chain 36.6 operates 815 comparable stores.

In 9M 2011 L-F-L sales (gross, including VAT) growth reached 13.7% versus 9M 2010;

In Q3 2011 L-F-L sales (gross, including VAT) growth reached 6.7% versus Q3 2010;

In Q3 2011 L-F-L average check stood at RUR 308 (including VAT), a 22.7% increase in ruble terms y-o-y;

Sales per trading sq.m. (including VAT)

In Q3 2011 sales per trading sq. m. increased by 9% in ruble terms and reached RUR 61 393 thousand versus RUR 56 494 thousand in Q3 2010

Private label

Number of SKUs increased by 32.5% and by the end of Q3 2011 reached 1 556. Para pharmaceuticals constitute the major part of private label goods assortment; a share of OTC drugs, vitamins and supplements equals to 16% of the private label goods turnover.

In 9M 2011 the private label sales in L-F-L stores reached RUR 1 309.6 mln (gross sales, including VAT), which represents a more than 54.1 % growth in rouble compared to 9M 2010;

In 9M 2011 a share of private label sales in the total gross turnover (including VAT) reached 12.6% (compared to 9,3% in 9M 2010).

[1] Hereinafter — these financial indicators may vary from the consolidated financial reporting prepared in accordance with IFRS.

[2] Comparable stores are defined as stores:

Opened or acquired 24 months prior to the presented reporting period, and

Not closed in the presented reporting period.