Montplet Laboratories doubles sales due to the pandemic and creates the Newell brand

Company with more than 100 years of history, 100% family-owned, based in Barcelona and led by a woman. It is not easy to find companies that combine these four ingredients, and it is even more difficult for them to also be part of the select group of companies that have managed to grow during the coronavirus crisis. The company that meets all these requirements is Laboratorios Montplet, a company straddling the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors that has practically managed to double its turnover this last year as a result of the strong increase in demand for disinfectant and sanitizing products caused by the pandemic.

With its headquarters and production facilities in the La Verneda neighborhood, Laboratorios Montplet is a leading disinfectant and pesticide company in the manufacture and distribution of ethyl alcohol, although it also markets hydrogen peroxide, povidone-iodine, chlorhexidine, cosmetic products, and now also hydroalcoholic gel with virucidal and bactericidal effect. Its characteristic 70º or 96º alcohol bottles decorated with a cross and a red cap are ubiquitous in home medicine cabinets, but now this centenary company is experiencing a second youth thanks to the battery of sanitizing and disinfectant products it has launched on the market as a result of covid-19. Thus, the 2020 financial year closed with sales of 19 million euros, representing a growth of 90% compared to the 10 million euros earned in 2019.

After having had to reinforce its technical and manufacturing personnel capacity this last year, Montplet has now launched an investment of more than one million euros aimed at increasing the capacity of the Barcelona plant with new machinery and clean rooms. In parallel, 2.5 million have been allocated to an R&D project that has materialized with the launch this month of a new brand, Newell, specialized in sustainable mosquito repellent and anti-lice products.

The group is the first tax warehouse in Spain and was founded in Barcelona in 1889 by Jaume Prunés, who started a warehouse and a factory to rectify alcohols. Over the years, the business passed into the hands of his nephew, Francisco Montplet Prunés, who created Destilerías Montplet dedicated to the manufacture and sale of all types of liquors, and also entered the perfumery sector. Today, the company is in the hands of the fifth generation of the family, specifically, Vanessa Montfort, great-granddaughter of Francisco Montplet.

It is the first time that a woman is at the head of the business in the more than one hundred years of the company's history, as it had always been the husbands of the heiresses who had run the show. Vanessa Monfort joined Montplet in 1999 along with her sister Patricia to boost the parapharmacy business. To simplify the shareholding structure, in 2018 Vanessa Monfort bought 100% of the company, which today depends on the parent company Montplet Investments Group 1889. From this head hang two subsidiaries: Laboratorios Montplet ---which brings together the parapharmacy business--- and Alcoholes Montplet, the industrial division, leader in Spain in the sale of ethanol for the pharmaceutical industry and for manufacturers of spirits and distillates.

Apart from the strong growth experienced thanks to the production of hydroalcoholic gel and all kinds of cleaning and surface disinfection substances, the group has just launched a new brand, Newell, to expand its presence in pharmacies and parapharmacies. Under the umbrella of Newell, Montplet has developed a new line of mosquito repellents and anti-lice products with the peculiarity that they are sustainable products, with 70% biodegradable components and free of oxybenzone and octinoxate, two components that harm coral reefs and the marine ecosystem. In addition, they will not contain toxic substances such as DEET, the most common ingredient in insect repellents. To fight against lice, Newell does not use permethrin, but another compound that they assure has fewer adverse effects.

According to Laboratorios Montplet, Newell has involved an investment of more than 2.5 million euros and is the result of more than three years of research carried out in the company's laboratories in Barcelona. Thanks to the signing of a distribution agreement with Mogar, Newell expects to be present in the next three years in 11,000 pharmacies and parapharmacies throughout Spain. In parallel, the new brand wants to internationalize starting in 2022, when it plans to introduce itself in pharmacies in France, Italy, Portugal, and Greece. There will also be a commitment to online sales through the Dosfarma portal.