Uriach closed 2021 with a turnover of 235 million euros, 42% more than the previous year. This figure only includes its now sole business line, that of natural consumer healthcare (CHC), made up of over-the-counter medicines, natural products, and food supplements. The Catalan business group sold its B2B pharmaceutical business last summer, with the aim of continuing to execute its strategic plan to focus on the consumer health segment. Including this part, the business volume rose to 300 million euros last year.
Revenues have been largely sustained by the acquisition of the German company Sidroga last year, with a turnover of 50 million euros annually and a presence also in Austria and Switzerland, as well as the organic growth that the company is registering in the countries where it is present. Over the last decade, the pharmaceutical company controlled by the Uriach family and owner of brands such as Biodramina, Fisiocrem, Cistitus, Utabon, and Aerored has been registering similar growth, multiplying the weight of over-the-counter medicines in revenues by seven. This path will be maintained in 2022, with a growth forecast of 15%, despite an increasingly adverse economic context, with inflation and supply problems.
With this continued growth, the Catalan group continues to bet on incorporating new companies with which to expand its area of influence across Europe. After Sidroga, the largest corporate operation in Uriach's history, the company has just acquired the Romanian Medimow, for an undisclosed amount. With a smaller dimension than Sidroga, Medimow invoices around two million euros and is expected to be between seven and ten million euros by 2025.
Medimow, dedicated to the development and commercialization of food supplements for gynecology and pediatrics, distributed Uriach's products in Romania since 2018. The company led by Oriol Segarra uses the same formula in Greece, but rules out that this will be the next corporate operation. France continues to be the pharmaceutical group's great pending subject to consolidate its presence in Europe, after having entered Italy and Germany, the other two large consumer health markets along with Spain.
The international expansion of the pharmaceutical group began in 2015 with the acquisition of Laborest in Italy. Since then, it has managed to have a direct presence in five more European countries. In 2018, it bought Theralab in Portugal and, in 2019, deepened its participation in the Italian market with the absorption of A.R.Fitofarma and Progine. In 2021, came Sidroga, reaching Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and, this year, Medimow. Beyond France, the focus is also on the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe, as well as continuing to strengthen in the countries where it already operates, as happened in Italy with new purchases.
The international expansion of the pharmaceutical group began in 2015 with the acquisition of Laborest in ItalyEurope is the priority, but the rest of the world is also growing through commercial agreements.Spain has come to represent only 25% of the turnover. "It is starting to be a small country in our portfolio," says its CEO."We increasingly have more business abroad, with a more diversified geographical risk," he adds.
To reach a turnover of between 450 and 500 million euros in 2025, as set out in the strategic plan, Segarra acknowledges that some major acquisition will have to be executed in the coming years, rejecting an IPO or the entry of external capital. "We have room to continue," Segarra assures, adding that they do not have significant debt and maintain high profitability. In fact, in 2021, EBITDA was 38 million euros, 41% more than in 2020.
Relocation to Sant Cugat
Uriach's focus on over-the-counter medicines, natural products, and food supplements resulted in the divestment of the B2B pharmaceutical business, that is, the area of production of medicines and active ingredients for third parties, a unit that generated revenues of 74 million euros in 2020. The MCH fund acquired this division, comprising the three factories Uriach had in Catalonia, located in the Barcelona towns of Sant Fost de Campsentelles and Palau-solità i Plegamans.
The MCH fund acquired Uriach's B2B division, comprising the three factories it had in Sant Fost de Campsentelles and Palau-solità i PlegamansAs a result of this spin-off, Noucor was born, aiming to be a benchmark in the manufacture of generic medicines, licenses, the development of new innovative molecules, and production for third parties. In fact, Noucor will continue to manufacture, for example, all the products that Uriach previously produced in these plants.
The sale also entails the relocation of the pharmaceutical group. Segarra indicates that they will soon leave the corporate headquarters in Palau-solità i Plegamans, with the expectation of being in the new location in September. Sant Cugat del Vallès has been the chosen destination, in rented offices that are finalizing their opening. They expect to be there for a few years, although they do not rule out having a corporate headquarters again in the future.