Fides s.r.o., Bratislava deals in drug and health device distribution. The company was established in 1991 and has increased its market share consistently. Last year it earned a pre-tax income of 12 million Sk ($400,000) from 1.2 billion Sk ($40 million) in sales. Approximately 15 percent of its sales come from supplying hospitals, 6 percent comes from the redistribution among other companies, and almost 80 percent come from sales to pharmacies. The company employs 150 people. Among its largest customers are Slovakofarma, Hoechst-Biotika Martin, and Czech producer Léčiva Prague.
Total expenditures for pharmaceuticals in Slovakia were some 12 billion Sk ($400 million) last year, which is 30 percent of the total health care expenditures. The company Fides had, according to the data of the State Medicine Control Institute, a 10 percent market share, and, along with Medard S.r.o.., Nitra and Salvia Inc., Nové Mesto nad Váhom, it is one of the three largest medicine distributors in Slovakia.
