Russia's Pharmacy 36.6 nine-month sales up 39 pct

MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Russian health and drugstore chain Pharmacy 36.6 (APTK.MM) said on Monday its nine-month sales rose by 38.6 percent to $820.7 million.

Sales in the retail segment increased by 42.9 percent to $655.6 million, while sales at generic drug manufacturing unit Veropharm (VFRM.MM) grew by 38.2 percent to $128.4 million.

The company had 1,168 pharmacies as of Sept. 30, 2008. Like-for-like sales in the company's retail segment increased in the period by 17 percent, based on 535 comparable stores. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Quentin Bryar)