Sales Increased 7.91%

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Grupo Casa Saba ('Saba,' 'GCS,' 'the Company' or 'the Group') (NYSE: SAB), one of the leading Mexican distributors of pharmaceutical products, beauty aids, personal care and consumer goods, general merchandise, publications and other products, announces its consolidated financial and operating results for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Financial Highlights:

(All December 2007 figures are expressed in millions of Mexican pesos as of December 31, 2007, while the figures for December 2008 are expressed in millions of current Mexican pesos. Comparisons are made with the same period of 2007, unless otherwise stated. Figures may vary due to rounding practices. 'b.p.' stands for basis points).

    -- Sales for the quarter totaled $7,807.03 million
    -- Gross income increased 17.86%
    -- Gross margin for the quarter was 12.21%
    -- Quarterly operating expenses as a percentage of sales were 7.80%
    -- The operating margin for the quarter was 4.41%
    -- Net profit for the quarter reached $222.79 million
    -- Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter was $524.21 million

                              QUARTERLY EARNINGS

NET SALES

During the fourth quarter, GCS's sales were $7,807.03 million, an increase of 7.91%.

Sales for our Private Pharma division rose 8.46% during the fourth quarter of 2008, as a result of the consolidation of investments made within the sector, including the most recent acquisition of Drogasmil Medicamento e Perfumeria, S.A.(1), a Brazilian pharmacy chain.

Sales in our Health, Beauty, Consumer Goods, General Merchandise and Other division increased 14.77% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. This growth was due to commercial agreements that enabled us to increase promotions and discounts which, in turn, increased our sales.

Sales in our Government Pharma division rose 30.37% due to an increase in sales to Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), as well as the Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado ('ISSSTE'), or the Mexican Social Security and Service Institute for Government Employees.

Publication sales decreased 45.02%, primarily as a result of lower unit sales. This decrease was due to the fact that Citem stopped distributing some publications that did not meet our minimal profitability requirements.

The sales mix did not change significantly this quarter.