JGL Pharma Revenues Reach Record 355 Million Kuna

In the first half of this year JGL continued the trend of revenue growth and operational profitability in its pharmaceutical business. Specifically, the business revenues of JGL Pharma, according to preliminary consolidated results, reached a record 355 million kuna.

This represents a growth of 16 percent, in conditions of challenging business due to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a sharp slowdown in demand in the second quarter. However, even under these circumstances, JGL managed to achieve double-digit growth and growth faster than the market. This result is even more significant considering that a decline in sales was recorded in Russia and Croatia, the two largest markets for JGL.

– This is a great result as it shows that we have managed to build a sufficiently large and growing business in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, and B2B markets, thereby reducing dependence on individual markets. Russia remains our largest market, where we achieved 33 percent of revenues in the first half of this year, but this is a decrease from 39 percent share last year. However, what particularly pleases us is the growth in the B2B business of as much as 87 percent. This confirms JGL’s competitiveness on the European stage and ensures a very important source of new revenues, in which we have no currency risk – emphasizes Mislav Vučić, CEO of JGL. He adds that all key brands of the company achieved double-digit growth, from Vizol S, which is growing over 70 percent, to Aqua Maris, Meralys, Aknekutan, and Folacin.

JGL also continues to reduce debt and leverage, despite the financial shock due to the pandemic. At the end of the first half of the year, the leverage ratio (net debt/EBITDA) was further reduced from 2.8x at the end of 2019 to 2.2x.

– Given that we had strong revenue growth while simultaneously controlling costs well, in the first half of 2020 we increased operational profitability (EBITDA margin) from 13.5 to 17.7 percent. An increase in profitability of 4 percentage points is truly an extraordinary result – explains Vučić and notes that during the same period they had a negative impact from currency differences amounting to 15.5 million kuna. With excellent sales results and efficient cost management, they managed to almost completely offset that expense.

JGL emphasizes that in the second half of the year they will continue with the same business strategy that includes even faster and more focused adaptation to customer needs, sales, and exports, as well as further expanding collaborations in key therapeutic segments of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology.

The largest investments will be directed towards JGL’s Aqua Maris and Meralys portfolio for prevention and hygiene in the upcoming cold, flu, and virus season. Also, considering that new living and working conditions increasingly bind us to staying in closed, air-conditioned spaces, in front of various electronic screens, JGL anticipates an increase in demand for their high-quality Vizol S preservative-free solutions for dry and red eye problems.

Group-level business revenues, including the pharmacy segment through ZU Pablo and the dietetics and cosmetics segment through the subsidiary Adrialab, also recorded a 16 percent growth, reaching 453 million kuna. The operational profit (EBITDA) of the JGL Group amounts to 71 million kuna, representing a growth of 54 percent compared to the first six months of last year, while the profit before tax is 28 million kuna.

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