DGAP-News: Celesio AG: Third-party ownership of pharmacies: Decision lies with individual EU

Celesio AG / Miscellaneous

19.05.2009 

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Third-party ownership of pharmacies: Decision lies with individual EU
member state

Stuttgart/Luxembourg, 19 May 2009. The decision regarding a third-party
ownership ban of pharmacies lies with the individual EU member state. This
was decided today by the judges of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in
Luxembourg. According to the ruling, the German third-party ownership ban
is consistent with the freedom of establishment of the EC Treaty.

'It is good that clarity has now been provided from European law on the
third-party ownership ban of pharmacies in Germany. At least this ruling
gives Celesio planning reliability for the time being', said Fritz
Oesterle, CEO of Celesio. Celesio and its subsidiary DocMorris will now
focus on expanding the brand partner business and mail-order activities.

The company will reportedly stick to the cornerstones of the 'Agenda 2015'
work programme and the EBITDA goal of more than EUR 1 billion in 2015
associated with this. Oesterle also stated that possible deregulation in
Germany was not a part of this work programme. The strategic cornerstones
of Celesio's 'Agenda 2015' were presented at the Annual General Meeting on
8 May 2009. At the same time, Fritz Oesterle confirmed the outlook for
2009.

Celesio plans to become much more widely active for the customer groups of
patients and consumers, pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
'Whatever orders pharmaceutical manufacturers assign to external service
providers, we aim to cover as many of them as possible', Oesterle stated.
Furthermore, Celesio will expand its activities is to supply pharmacies
with 'everything they need - and by that I mean 'everything': This includes
not only the prompt delivery of medicines, but in principle a range from
pharmacy software to advertising media'.


About the Celesio Group:

Celesio is a leading international company which covers the spectrum of
pharmaceutical trade and pharmaceutical-related services. The group is
active in 14 countries and employs around 38,000 people in its three
divisions Patient and Consumer Solutions, Pharmacy Solutions and
Manufacturer Solutions. Over 2,300 of Celesio's own pharmacies, as part of
Patient and Consumer Solutions, serve over 550,000 customers in seven
countries every day. In its wholesale activities, which are part of
Pharmacy Solutions, around 120 wholesale branches deliver to over 35,000
pharmacies in twelve European countries - day in, day out. In the
Manufacturer Solutions division, Celesio offers pharmaceutical
manufacturers logistics and distribution solutions and supports them in
sales and marketing.
DGAP 19.05.2009 
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Language:     English
Issuer:       Celesio AG
              Neckartalstr. 155
              70376 Stuttgart
              Deutschland
Phone:        +49 (0)711 5001-735
Fax:          +49 (0)711 5001-736
E-mail:       investor@celesio.com
Internet:     www.celesio.com
ISIN:         DE000CLS1001
WKN:          CLS100
Indices:      MDAX
Listed:       Regulierter Markt in Berlin, Frankfurt (Prime Standard),
              München, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart; Freiverkehr in Hannover,
              Hamburg; Terminbörse EUREX
 
End of News                                     DGAP News-Service
 
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