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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VLAD who wrote (4834)	8/10/1998 4:01:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

08/10 10:22 German sex firms to woo stock market investors FRANKFURT, Aug 10 (Reuters) - German sex merchandise firms plan to attract outside investors to a market which is anticipating a boost from the male anti-impotence drug Viagra. One month after Beate Uhse, the country's largest sex retailer, said it was considering listing its shares on the bourse, Cologne-based condom maker Condomi AG said on Monday it was seeking a flotation in 1999 or 2000. Condomi runs Europe's oldest-established condom factory, built in 1929, and plans to increase output of its latex contraceptives by 50 percent to 180 million a year. Marketing director Jens Laufenberg said the launch in Germany of Viagra, made by U.S. company Pfizer <PFE.N>, would force Condomi to reassess its target group of customers. Viagra is expected to be approved for distribution here in September. "At the moment we're focusing on the 14-to-29 age bracket, but now due to Viagra we'll have to lift it," Laufenberg said. Retailers of erotica do not expect investors to be deterred by the nature of their business. In a country where people have a relaxed attitude to sex and where well-appointed, respectable erotica shops can be found even in the smallest of towns, sex shares are not expected to carry any stigma. "Whether a company makes car tyres or condoms, they trade in products that generate sales," said Laufenberg, adding that in his view Condomi shares would be a "safe investment." Condomi expects sales growth of 15 percent per year in the coming three years and projects sales of 14 million marks ($7.87 million) in the 1998/1999 year to June 30. Condomi, which offers condoms in a different colours, tastes and fragrances, says European Union guidelines on condom production are threatening to curtail the variety of its product range. Citing EU rules which state that a condom must be at least 17 centimetres long with a girth of between 4.4 and 5.6 centimetres, Laufenberg said: "That rules out possible products such as 'extra small' or broader sizes." Condomi has 12 retail outlets and last year bought one of Europe's largest condom factories in the east German town of Erfurt. It aims to sell in eastern Europe and is seeking a 25 percent market share in Germany. ($1=1.779 Mark) moneynet.com@NEWS-P2&Index=1&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=