Scholl to market antiseptic

SCHOLL, the shoe and foot care group, has spent pounds 15m on a French antiseptic brand that sells mainly through retail chemists.

Scholl has bought the distribution and marketing rights to Septivon from the large French pharmaceutical company Elf- Sanofi, which will continue to manufacture the product.

Neil Franchino, Scholl's chief executive, said Septivon fitted the company's strategy of buying over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.

Septivon is used for cleansing and preventing infection in small cuts and skin diseases and in gynaecological applications.

So far it has sold mainly in France. Mr Franchino said he wanted to step up the marketing effort there and to launch it into other countries, notably Britain and Italy.

At present one-third of Septivon sales are on prescription and two-thirds are over the counter at chemists.

In 1992 Septivon had sales of Fr61m ( pounds 7m). The purchase price is about 10 times 1992 after- tax profits. Scholl shares were unchanged at 235p.