-To Unveil New Products in 2024
In spite of the many economic challenges that have led to the exit of many businesses from the Nigerian market, the management of May & Baker PLC has declared a commendable end of year result while promising to continue to sustain the momentum of success which has underlined its operational philosophy since its establishment.
Speaking during the end of year media parley on Thursday, in Lagos, the Managing Director of the pharmaceutical giant, Pharm. Patrick Ajah, said the ingenuity of his management team played a pivotal role in ensuring that the company weathered the storm of the harsh economic climate in the country to retain its leadership position in the market.
Bemoaning the liquidity crisis that sprang up due to the many policy summersaults, especially in the banking and oil and gas sectors of the Nigerian economy, Pharm. Ajah observed that the forex crisis and the fluctuation of the naira led to many unsavoury operational outcomes for businesses in Nigeria, with some pharmaceutical companies closing shop.
“Suffice to say that 2023 has been one of the most challenging years in our operational history as a country. The Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) Naira redesign policy and cash withdrawal limit created interruptions in economic operations and widespread hardship in the first two months of 2023.
“The policy created a liquidity crisis and coupled with the uncertainties surrounding the elections, economic activities were almost grounded to a halt. So, just as companies were trying to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and adjusting to the instabilities created by the Russian Ukraine war, we now had to deal with the impact of the cash crunch and an election with uncertain outcomes etc.
“It’s no longer news that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has decided to close ongoing operations in Nigeria, highlighting the difficult and unfavourable operating environment of the nation's economic sector. Another multinational pharmaceutical company and one of our contract manufacturing partners, Sanofi Aventis has also announced their exit from direct operations in Nigeria by February next year.
“There have also been widespread reports of the likes of P&G ‘’dissolving’’ their operations in Nigeria and some other companies adjusting the scale of operations in Nigeria citing the difficulty in doing business,” he said.
The aforementioned challenges notwithstanding, Ajah declared that May & Baker did pretty well by exceeding its target for the outgoing year.
“Despite the challenges highlighted above, I am glad to report that our revenue grew from N10.5b (Jan-Sept 2022) to N14.3b (Jan-Sept 2023) which represents a 38 per cent cumulative growth on the topline. This also represents 111 per cent achievement against the budget of N12.9b.
“On the bottom line, our PBT (Profit Before Tax) grew in comparison from N919m in 2022 to N1.7b at the end of September 2023, representing a 147 per cent achievement against the budget of N1.1b,” he added.
On product development, Pharm. Ajah reiterated his company’s commitment towards driving organic growth with the launch of at least seven new products in the coming year, 2024.
“We are on track to launch at least seven new products next year with several more in the pipeline, at different stages of registration or development.
“The herbal plant, our state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the manufacture of herbal products got a boost with the completion of NAFDAC registration of our bitter leaf capsule product – Roveda. Two new SKUs of the product; Roveda 600mg and Roveda 750mg will be added to our bouquet of nature care products early in Q1, 2024,” he said.
In the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, he added that May & Baker would continue to support meaningful causes in the health, education, environment and social welfare segments. Notable among these CSR initiatives are the Walk for Life event, which coincided with the World Hypertension Day on 17 May, 2023, in partnership with Ministry of Health Lagos and Ikeja Local Government, the May & Baker Professional Service Award in Pharmacy and the Environmental Care Partnership with Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).
