1st quarter 2009: favourable developments

Continuing strong growth, successful launch of Oralair® in Germany, decrease of the net financial debt

Continuing strong growth: +15% (organic* +14%) 

Successful launch of Oralair^® in Germany

Net financial debt: down 50%

Sales growth

Sales growth of 15% (organic* 14%) was reported over the first quarter 2009 to € 56.2 million.  The foreign exchange effects were only slightly unfavourable by 0.6%.

This increase further reflected the continuing break through of the sublingual route.

The analysis by geographic region highlights the marked increase of “Other EU countries”, whose surge in growth (up 36% in 2009 -organic 28%-, up 16% in 2008) mainly comes from the launch of Oralair® in Germany and the transfer from a distributor to a subsidiary of the operations in Switzerland.
The Southern European markets performed well in spite of the economic recession in a context of partial reimbursement with a 10% increase in growth.
Lastly, on export markets, operations expectedly marked time following the exceptional 45% growth recorded over the same period in 2008.

Financial position, operations and significant events of the quarter

The financial position improved due to the 50% decline in net financial debt compared the same period of the previous year.  The gearing ratio (net debt to equity) was 4%.

There are no significant events or transactions to report since the previous press releases.

Outlook for the current financial year

Even though they are highly favourable, market trends remain too volatile to review the 2009 full-year growth guidance upwards, which to date remains set at 8-10%.



(*) excluding foreign exchange effects