In its three-quarterly earnings report released on Thursday, the group said that annualised sales growth stood at 5%.

The group generated sales of EUR 792.7m outside of Slovenia, with foreign markets registering 6% growth in revenues, Krka said.

Eastern Europe was the group's top market, generating nearly 35% of all sales and registering a 24% rise year-on-year.

The growth in eastern Europe was driven by a 29% sales spike in Russia.

The parent company generated sales of EUR 835.3m, which is 11% more than in the first three quarters of 2012.

The Krka group forecasts that it will finish the year with sales of around EUR 1.2bn and a profit of EUR 159.8m, which would be a slight increase over 2012.

Investment spending in the group amounted to EUR 109.2m in the first nine months of the year, while the workforce expanded by nearly 5% to 9,914.