Despite the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, SET-listed Mega Lifesciences, a producer of pharmaceuticals and food supplements, vows to continue to expand its business both domestically and overseas this year.
Chief executive Vivek Dhawan said the company planned to allocate 625 million baht to expand its business between 2022 and 2023. Of the total, 414 million baht will be used for the consolidation of its manufacturing operations and capacity expansion in Thailand, with 46 million baht to be used in the field of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). The remaining 165 million baht is to be spent on an existing pharmaceutical plant in Indonesia.
"Consumer healthcare is an emerging trend. The way forward is disease prevention rather than struggling for a cure. So our business is a sunrise industry,'' Mr Dhawan said.
Mega Lifesciences reported revenues of 14.13 billion baht in 2021, an increase of 12.3% over the previous year. Of the total, 6.9 billion baht belonged to its Mega We Care business, which accounts for its own products, while the remainder was from Maxxcare, a distribution business.
According to Mr Dhawan, 2021 revenues from Mega We Care-branded products grew by 18.2% from 2020. International sales from all regions also performed well, with Southeast Asia contributing 87% of the total revenue.
Revenue from the Maxxcare distribution business, meanwhile, grew by 6.2% in 2021, mainly driven by existing target customers (or principals).
The company posted a net profit of 1.94 billion baht, up by 39.8% from 2020 mainly thanks to growth of its Mega We Care revenue and better gross margins.
According to Mr Dhawan, with a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and high base growth in revenue last year, the company expects its revenue in 2022 to grow by low single-digits.
However, the business of food supplements and pharmaceutical products is expected to see a bright future in the long term, and the company is confident that its bottom line will double to 2.4-2.5 billion baht by 2025.
"Our overseas business in all regions is also expected to sustain good growth despite the anticipated slight impact from the Russia-Ukraine conflict," he said. "However, we will closely monitor the situation and believe that there is still an opportunity for pharmaceutical products in Ukraine, and we hope the conflict will end soon."
According to Mr Dhawan, Mega Lifesciences also plans to grow its business by: expanding its customer base in existing underpenetrated markets; strengthening product categories; acquisitions; and focusing on business in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The company is also scheduled to launch 23 new pharmaceuticals, vitamin and food supplement products to the market this year.
Mega Lifesciences has expanded its business into 36 countries, such as Myanmar, Columbia, Ukraine, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines and Indonesia. It has two factories in Thailand (nutraceutical and food supplement), one complementary medicine production facility in Australia, and one pharmaceutical plant in Indonesia.
