UPDATE 1-Grifols sees plasma demand growing, prices stable
* 9-mth net profit 117 mln eur, meets analyst forecasts
* Sales 689.6 mln euros, up 15 pct on strong demand
* Shares up 0.13 percent
(Adds comments from director, analyst, shares)
By Tracy Rucinski and Jose Rodriguez
MADRID, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Spanish healthcare company Grifols (GRLS.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) sees continuing growing demand for blood plasma products and stable prices after posting a 26 percent rise in nine-month net profit, a director said on Wednesday.
While the economic and financial crisis has crippled production in most sectors across the world, plasma -- the raw material used for hemeoderivative products made by Grifols -- has continued to grow.
"Our perception in the hemeoderivative market is that demand is still growing," Nuria Pascual, Investor Relations Director, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Pascual also predicted prices would remain stable, saying the company -- which competes with Baxter (BAX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Australia's CSL (CSL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) -- had not noticed any downward pressure.
Earlier, Grifols posted net profit of 117 million euros, in line with analyst forecasts. [ID:nL2422819]
The numbers helped ease concerns sparked by quarterly earnings last month by Baxter and CSL. [ID:nN15287738] [ID:nSYD538163]
"These are quality results, supported by the company's most important division: bioscience. We think the numbers should help ease some doubts and allow the share price to regain some lost territory over the past month," Luis Blas, Banesto Bolsa analyst said in a note.
Grifols stock, which has lost 12 percent over the past month, was up 0.13 percent by 1625 GMT, compared with a 1.1 percent gain on Spain's blue chip index .IBEX.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski, Jose Rodriguez; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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