Published: December 01, 2008
La Lettre du Trésorier
Katarina Azib: After I finished my studies in Slovakia specialising in banking, finance and investment, I spent three years in London studying languages and IT.
I moved to France in 2000 and continued my studies at evening classes at the CNAM where I first got a postgraduate qualification in managerial studies, specialising in financial management, then more recently a Masters in management science, market finance, specialising in international asset management.
In the meantime, I had started work as soon as I moved to France - first in financial consultancy for insurance, contingency and savings, then for the Caisse de Retraite et de Prevoyance Réunica/Bayard, one of the biggest institutional investors, in treasury, where I was responsible for treasury management and researching monetary placements.
KA: Yes, after my husband changed his job, we moved to the South of France. I am now responsible for the group treasury function at Arkopharma Laboratoires Pharmaceutiques and I report directly to the Finance Director.
KA: Arkopharma was established in 1980. It is a French family-owned company which offers natural medicines made from active plant extracts, and specialises in herbal medicines, dermocosmetics, health foods, vitamins and minerals. We have been the leader in the herbal medicines sector for more than 27 years with 83% of the market share. Over 66% of our products are sold in pharmacies or chemists and the rest by mass retailers, specialist stores or by mail order. Arkopharma has 1,639 registered products, including 211 marketing authorisations for medicines in France as well as food supplements.
We have been the leader in the herbal medicines sector for more than 27 years with 83% of the market share.
In 2006, we had revenues of €231 million, 63% of which were accounted for by herbal medicines, and a net profit of €6.2 million. The company, which has 1,621 employees in 65 countries, 1,000 of whom work in Carros near Nice, invests 5% of its revenues in research and development. The group has five French subsidiaries and 13 international subsidiaries in strategic countries such as Spain, Italy, the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, the USA, Canada and Australia. Forty-seven per cent of our revenues come from international markets with the highest sales in Spain, Ireland and Italy.
Arkopharma was floated on the stock market in 1996 but very recently cancelled its listing, in July 2007, the shares having been repurchased by the holding company belonging to the owner family, which now owns over 95%.
KA: I manage the treasury operations of the French subsidiaries directly. In order to reduce the surplus cash positions as much as possible and to centralise the worldwide cash flow of our international subsidiaries, we decided to introduce Connexis Cash through BNP Paribas. This is an internet-based e-banking tool, which is highly adaptable and will allow us to recover the daily positions in all countries, to initiate group bank account transfers online and also has an option for the subsidiaries to carry out payments to third parties themselves. Following detailed negotiations with the subsidiaries and their banks, we have now reached the final implementation phase of the system. [[[PAGE]]]
KA: We recently reduced the number of banking partners from seven to five. We work with two main banks - BNP Paribas and Société Générale - and also with CIC, Crédit Agricole and Crédit du Nord. On foreign markets we receive a lot of payments by cheque so we need local banks. Each regional subsidiary has chosen its own bank which represents 19 banking establishments, but we would like to introduce a shared system.
We have created an interface between XRT and SAP in both directions to facilitate day-to-day management and to produce forecasts.
KA: At the initial stage, I was particularly involved in optimising treasury management. We have 25 accounts in France and 27 accounts in other countries. We renegotiated the banking terms for France. Also since I joined, we have created an interface between XRT and SAP in both directions to facilitate day-to-day management and to produce forecasts. We have therefore automated several tedious processes such as the calculation of commercial debts and current accounts. Lastly, in order to improve the monitoring of documentary credit and letters of credit, I introduced an internet-based communications and monitoring system called Conexis Trade, with BNP Paribas. The next stage will consist of introducing a cash pool for the French subsidiaries and the rebalancing the cash flows.
KA: This area has been undergoing a lot of changes recently but we have already collected the IBAN numbers for all our suppliers and clients. We still need to make preparations for changes in the format of the statements and the files sent out remotely. Some questions are currently pending such as the continuation of Etebac and the performance of the treasury software for SEPA, but we have until 2011 to comply.
KA: Very few, as more than 90% of our revenues are in euros. For other countries, contracts are traded at the beginning of the year and the parity is valid for the whole year.
Interview by Sophie Rack
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