Phoenix Benefits From Merger

The German drug wholesale grouping, Phoenix Pharmahandel AG, put together by the drugs producer Adolf Merckle, has started to benefit from the extraordinarily complex series of mergers which went into creating the Mannheim-based group. The group includes Hageda of Cologne, F Reichelt of Hamburg, Ferd Schulze of Mannheim, and two Otto Stumpf companies based in Berlin and Fuerth.

In the first half of 1994 (ended July 31), Phoenix group sales rose 5% to 2.53 billion Deutschemarks ($1.6 billion). The company now has a 30% share of the German drugs wholesale market, ahead of Gehe with 17%-18% and Anzag with 14%.

Total sales of German drug wholesale companies in 1993 reached 25 billion marks, with western Germany accounting for 20 billion marks and eastern Germany 4.6 billion marks. Pretax profits from Phoenix in the six-month period were 14.2 million marks, notably higher than forecast and higher than the generally positive results which the individual constituent companies achieved in 1993.