Anca Vlad, the majority shareholder in Fildas group of firms, says she is focusing on wholesale business development.

Fildas Trading distributor, part of the group, is one of the top five players on the market. Fildas group also operates the Catena group of drugstores, second biggest in the country in terms of outlet number.

The group's strategy pursues the expansion of the drugstore network through franchises.

Fildas is so far the only player to have announced chain development through franchises. The chain currently includes 138 outlets.

"According to the franchising project initiated in 2006, the number of franchised outlets is estimated to grow from 5 to 300 in the next three years," stated Anca Vlad. Approximately 36 of the 138 Catena drugstores are located in Bucharest, while the rest are situated outside the capital city.

Catena's strong expansion strategy is part of the overall trend followed by the retail market.

Thus, all the major players on the market have announced massive investments in development.

In the first half of this year, expansion brought Fildas group a 50% increase in income against the corresponding period of last year, to 2.2 million euros. At the same time, the company's turnover amounted to 75 million euros, up 22%.

"The bigger product portfolio generated by acquisitions, coupled with promotion, the increase in the retail volume generated by a larger number of customers and the consolidation of pharmaceutical product distribution to customers were the main factors that drove turnover up," said Anca Vlad.

At present, Fildas Trading, the main company of the group, operates 14 warehouses, located in the main cities of the country.

Fildas Trading last year derived revenues worth 105 million euros and income standing at 4 million euros.

At the beginning of this year, distributio