Pharmaceutical company Medis ended its 2020 financial year with revenues of € 136.1 million, up 11.9 percent from the previous year. Growth was particularly noticeable in foreign markets, where most of the revenue was generated. The highest growths in sales revenue were achieved in Austria, Hungary, Serbia and the Baltic States, while growth of more than 9% was achieved in Slovenia. In addition, value added per employee also went up to € 112.000. Medis has enjoyed average revenue increases of nearly 16 percent annually for the past five years.
Globally, Medis is becoming more widely known for ensuring access and commercialisation of state-of-the-art medicinal products from innovative pharmaceutical and biotech industry partners in the 15 countries where it operates. As a local partner to these innovative companies, Medis ensures the entry of new medicinal products to Central and South-Eastern European markets. These are ‘home’ markets for Medis, where the company is extremely well-established and has all the competencies that its partners need.
We managed to increase sales even more than we originally planned, without reinforcing our business with one-off deals involving pandemic products or equipment. Across all four strategic business units of Medis – prescription medicinal products, hospital medicinal products and equipment, over-the-counter products and products for use in aesthetic medicine – our planned financial results have been achieved. We are also pleased to be able to report our successful introduction of new prescription medicinal products in the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Slovakia,
said Dr. Martina Perharič, Medis CEO, and added:
Net profits increased by as much as 9 percent, to a record € 12.0 million. This is due to significant sales growth, as well as the fact that we kept most investments, particularly investments in marketing and digitisation, to 2019 levels.
The direction for the future is clearly outlined in the 2021-2025 strategic guidelines, also presented to the employees: Medis will continue its strategic investments to obtain high, double-digit, year-on-year growth and to reach the set financial goals for 2025, while operating sustainably and for the benefit of all its stakeholders.
Thirty-one years of investment and cooperation with the world's leading manufacturers of innovative medicinal products has positioned Medis to have the capacity, capability and modern technology for excellence in marketing, management, and optimisation of the entire business. We also have a huge amount of knowledge, top experts and teams in 15 countries providing access to state-of-the-art medicinal products – even in countries with markets that are too small and therefore too expensive for big independent pharmaceutical companies to enter,
said Tone Strnad, Chairman and Founder of Medis, supporting the ambitious strategic plans for the future of Medis.
Efforts to access state-of-the-art medicinal products
Every new molecule that passes clinical trials and is approved by the regulatory body for clinical use is a great success and the result of exceptional knowledge and technology and a huge financial investment. However, there are often many challenges on the way to patients – the biggest being to secure funding for such treatments in the individual countries. Perharič explains,
What I always say to manufacturers and insurance companies is that while in Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary there may be only 10 patients in the relevant therapeutic groups, these medicinal products are equally essential for our patients as in larger countries.
In 2020, Medis became a new strategic partner to three innovative medicinal products manufacturers (from the United States, Portugal and Israel), allowing the company to expand its portfolio of specialist prescription medicinal products to Parkinson's disease, specific retinal diseases and sleep disorders in children with autism spectrum disorders.
Digitisation remains of key importance
The company's goals are to further increase the teams with professional staff in markets outside Slovenia and to emphasise the importance of a unified culture and operations within the healthy values of a good and prudent employer – which Medis is and remains, regardless of size. Employees will be even more actively involved in challenging and well-organised continuing professional development, which will significantly strengthen the decision-making power and efficiency of their work. Another particularly important segment of the company's further investments is digitisation.
Digitising our operations ensures fewer errors, better transparency and control, and above all better planning – all of which is necessary for the management of both inventories and activities. Modern closed loop, multi-channel communication tools enable smooth connection with customers and even better customer experience. We want to provide customers with professional information at the right time, and new communication channels now allow us to adapt much more to customers. It also facilitates the optimisation of content, which is adapted to suits either shorter messaging, face to face communications, or in-depth video detailing; besides, a specialised contenthas to be prepared and available “on-demand” for Health Care Professionals
added Perharič. She concluded her remarks saying that all of the above form
the foundation of our performance and colaboration culture, which is why we were able to transition smoothly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by working from home, and why we can now to look forward to success – both individually and collectively – through virtual and live communications nicely combined.
