Durex Maker Expands in Eastern Europe

Business » FINANCE | March 6, 2009, Friday // 00:00

SSL International Plc, the manufacturer of Durex condoms, will boost its presence in eastern Europe just as the region's economic meltdown turns investors away, Chief Executive Officer Garry Watts announced, as cited by Bloomberg agency.

The U.K. maker of Durex and Contex brands plans to raise its stake in a unit that distributes contraceptives in Russia and nine other eastern European countries to 50 percent by April and expects to take full ownership by 2010, Watts said.

"Russian people aren't going to stop having sex any more than British people are," Watts, 52, said in an interview in London. "We're not immune from the downturn, but it's a bit like Pizza Hut: If you're not going out, then you might be willing to drop a five-pound vibrator ring into your trolley."

About 90 percent of newly reported HIV cases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were in Russia and the Ukraine in 2006, according to a UNAIDS report.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Finance » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Global Financial Crisis

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria