Pharma firm reinvents itself
Posted by meb at September 5th, 2008
With a 9.2 percent market share, Abdi İbrahim, the leading company in Turkey’s pharmaceutical sector, aims at further growth in both international and domestic operations. Growing fivefold in the last six years, the company, founded in 1912, renews its corporate identity with a new building and a new logo.
Abdi İbrahim, Turkey’s largest pharmaceutical company, announced its 2007 financial earnings and 2008 expectations yesterday in Istanbul. Founded in 1912, the company increased revenues from $615 to $805 million last year and it expects $900 million in revenues this year.
“We have been the leading pharmaceutical company in Turkey for the last seven years in terms of box sales and five years in annual turnover. We sell 150 different brands and 250 types of medicines,” Nezih Barut, board chairman of Abdi İbrahim, told journalists at a press meeting yesterday at the company’s new headquarters in Istanbul.
“We made $190 million in investments in the last decade. This year, we plan to invest $22 million,” said Barut. “Our next target is to attain $70 million in exports by 2010.”
There are 300 companies operating in Turkey’s pharmaceutical industry and 53 of them are foreign owned. “Unfortunately, the number of production facilities is only 42,” said Barut.
“A total of 1.31 billion boxes of medicine were sold in Turkey last year. The market’s size has reached YTL 11.1 billion,” he noted.
Significant growth:
While the pharmaceutical market grew 8.3 percent in terms of box sales last year, Abdi İbrahim increased its sales by 15.8 percent. “The average pharmaceutical spending per capita is at $126 in Turkey, while this figure reaches $350 in Greece and $900 in the United States,” Barut continued. “These figures indicate that we are quite far from the level of developed countries in terms of pharmaceutical product sales.”
Increasing its international growth 31 percent last year, the company reached an international trade volume of $24.3 million. “We aim to raise this figure to $31.5 million this year,” said Barut.
Representing 40 global pharmaceutical companies in Turkey, the annual production volume of Abdi İbrahim is 260 million boxes in its production facility, which is built on 25,000-square-meters, in Istanbul’s Bahçeşehir district. “We are Turkey’s largest pharmaceutical company in terms of employment as well,” Barut noted. “We have 2,800 employees and 1,800 of them are sales representatives.”
New corporate identity:
Growing fivefold in the last six years, Abdi İbrahim renewed its corporate identity with a new logo and a new headquarters. The company spent $40 million for its new building in Maslak, which was designed by renowned Italian architect Dante Benini. Massimo Vignelli, one of the world’s best known designers, created the company’s new logo.
“Our new headquarters signifies how we appreciate our employees. And our new logo symbolizes our unifying differences in the same pot,” said Barut.
source: Turkish Daily news
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