Large networks of drugstores expect high of 14% this year

Sao Paulo-the expectation of Brazilian Association of Pharmacies and Drugstores (Abrafarma), which represents the 27 largest companies is to close this year with a nominal growth of 14% in sales compared to 2015.
"Our goal is to close this level of 2016 14% growth," says the Chief Executive Officer of the entity, Sergio Mena Barreto. The Commission considers, however, that the macroeconomic factors such as the decline in GDP and rising unemployment may end up pressing the results.
"Nevertheless, we believe that, with the change of Government, the economy tends to stabilize," said Barreto, adding that the pharmacy sector is perhaps the retail sector more resilient to economic instability, and therefore did not suffer much from the recession. "He is the last sector into crisis, and the first to get out of it," he points out.
First semester
In the first half of this year the networks associated with Abrafarma presented a high 12.66% nominal revenue, year-to-year comparison, reaching the amount of R$ 19.32 billion.
In 2015 the billing of the networks connected to Abrafarma closed in R$ 35.94 billion, which represented an increase of about 12%, compared to 2014.