SEVENUM (dpa-AFX) - The online pharmacy Redcare Pharmacy is making astonishing progress in the sale of prescription drugs. In the third quarter, sales of the products in Germany increased by 81 percent, and in October, sales picked up even more speed. "We are seeing great popularity for electronic prescriptions in Germany," said Group CEO Olaf Heinrich when presenting the figures for the third quarter. Investors were pleased with the latest findings after Redcare Pharmacy had already presented its first key figures at the beginning of October: with a plus of around 2.8 percent, the share was one of the biggest winners in the MDax mid-cap index.

German customers of Redcare were reported to be ordering more and more prescription drugs via smartphone in the app. Nine out of ten e-prescriptions (E-Rx) are already being submitted in this way. Since late summer and the end of the summer vacations in particular, the company has seen a rapid increase in app downloads. This is helping the DocMorris competitor to retain customers. Marketing expenditure was also reduced, it was reported. Morgan Stanley analyst Aisyah Noor rates the constant development in prescription drugs as "encouraging".

At the end of the third quarter, the market share in terms of sales volume was 0.55 percent according to Group figures - and the trend is still rising. Redcare sees a target market with a volume of around 55 billion euros.

However, the business with over-the-counter medicines continues to account for the lion's share of sales - in the third quarter, revenue rose by a fifth of a percent to 383 million euros. Group-wide sales rose by almost 21 percent to 575 million euros, as already announced.

Due to higher distribution costs, however, Redcare earned less operationally in the third quarter. The Redcare brand Shop Apotheke has been advertising with TV presenter Günther Jauch and actors Christian Ulmen and Collien Ulmen-Fernandes, among others, for some time. Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by almost four million to 11.4 million euros. The margin deteriorated by 1.2 percentage points to 2.0%.

At the bottom line and looking at the first nine months of the year, the loss multiplied from 5.2 million in the previous year to 20.1 million euros.

Redcare had already presented initial key figures at the beginning of October, which were confirmed on Tuesday together with the adjusted annual targets. Since then, Redcare has been expecting a lower operating profit this year than before due to higher advertising expenditure for the e-prescription. The company had slightly raised its sales forecast at the time./ngu/mne/stk