Ognian Donev: We are expecting the new plant to open this May

It became evident from the words of the Chief Executive Officer of Sopharma that Lyubomir Pavlov had to cover an obligation to the lending banks, which caused him to sell.

The Chief Executive Officer of Sopharma AD, Ognian Donev, has once again joined in the discussion with investors of the forum of Investor.bg. He answered some questions posted on the topic, found in the section Comments on investor.bg.

Amongst the topics were the auctions of large packs of shares of Sоpharma AD, the dividend policy of the company and the entry of new investors in the company.

Ognian Donev specified in his comments that Sopharma has no new projects at the present moment, but the economic situation in Europe is dynamic and opportunity for investment may arise. His answer concerning the dividend of Sopharma is that, "It will be a function of the assessment, what will be best: reduction of borrowings, the ability to invest in new products or dividend distributions. 60% is hardly the reasonable solution under the uncertain environment in Bulgaria“, stated Donev in response to user under the alias 15%. "If the dividend is your main interest, then you should invest in markedly dividend paying shares – for instance SFTRD (the code of Sopharma Trading ed. note).

The wholesale trade brings dividend yield above 10%”, replied Mr. Donev. The commentator under the alias 15% inquired about the optimum levels of indebtedness of Sopharma. Mr. Donev explains in this regards: „In 2013, we will reach an intrinsic peak of the attracted funds. This has mostly been due to the construction and the upcoming release of the new production facility for solid dosage forms. Logically, we can expect a reduction of the attracted funds afterwards“. The commentator Kiro asked the following question: "Is there any information about interest in the shares of Mr. Pavlov, or whether he has given up on selling them after the political change?".

Ognian Donev's answer is as follows: "It is hard to talk about another investor. Generally, at the end of the last and the beginning of this year, Mr. Pavlov had to meet his obligation to the lending banks. To the best of my knowledge, all of the shares had been sold out in large packs, which led to their price collapse. As the rest are used as collateral for current loans, I do not expect more dumps to occur in 2013." Answers to the commentator Hristo Hristov: 1) What is the situation with Mr. L. Pavlov? Recently, he sold part of his Sopharma shares. Is this out of desire to exit the investment or a need for funds for other projects.

What is the stability in the ownership of Sopharma? Is it possible within the next 12 months to have a new shareholder? 2) Are you and Sopharma preparing for the coming elections? Populist attacks have already begun, and some politicians will not skip the opportunity to try and earn some desperate votes at your expense. Ognian Donev: Mr. Hristov, new shareholders on a larger scale – above 1 mln shares – have already joined and there are more considering it. These are not only Bulgarian but also other European pension funds. I do consider the company ownership structure as stable and do not expect any sudden changes. Regarding the political situation – please see the comments from yesterday at 10:37 and 11:03.

In my opinion, the attacks are continuing from the same place. It became clear who is financing the attacks, but Yanev and Barekov are not very reliable sources. Someone said that we are in the year of pancakes. Ognian Donev replied to Plamen Dermendzhiev's comment regarding the estimate whether to pay a dividend, to reduce the liability or to invest in new products, as follows: „Mr. Dermendgiev, I can’t see any reason for discontent with the company management. Our preferences naturally gravitate towards reduction of our dependence on the banking sector. However, under this dynamic situation, I am cautious to make a forecast on what a good decision will be in 4 months at the general shareholders’ meeting.“ Source: Investor.bg