Sopharma’s 2016 sales down by 5% YoY (NEUTRAL)

Sopharma’s 2016 sales decreased by 5% YoY, as the export sales fell by 6%, while the domestic sales declined by 2% YoY. The monthly sales were not disclosed, but the company’s 11-mo’16 sales also decreased by 5% YoY, where the export sales shrank by 10% YoY and domestic sales added 2% YoY. Please note that the lower export sales were mostly due to the lower sales to Russia, which is the main export market of the company while the decline of the domestic sales is due to the price erosion of the local market as sales increased by 7% in volume terms. According to the CEO of Sopharma, Ognyan Donev, in the past few months there are some signs for economic and political stabilization in Russia. The management is also optimistic for the trend of recovery of the sales in the Ukraine. In addition, Mr. Donev expressed satisfaction with the planned merger of Achieve Life Science and OncoGenex, and stressed that Sopharma is yet to capitalize on them.