As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, last year, the Rijeka JGL Group generated an impressive 1,020 million kuna in total revenues with double-digit growth and became the largest Croatian pharmaceutical company in Croatia.
“Despite difficult and reduced access to healthcare in all countries in which we operate, a decline in the value of local currencies of about 30 percent in our largest markets, and consequently a decline in the purchasing power of the population, in 2020 we again surpassed ourselves. Crossing the magic limit of one billion kuna of total revenues places us in the group of about twenty of the largest manufacturing companies in Croatia. I’m proud that with this result we’ve become the largest Croatian pharmaceutical company in the year in which we celebrate 30 years of the Rijeka JGL Group and 10 years of one of our key brands, Meralys,” pointed out Mislav Vucic, the CEO of JGL, adding that last year’s growth rate at the group level was lower than it was before the pandemic, but also that, given the circumstances, they remain extremely satisfied with it.
In the pharmaceutical business, the Rijeka JGL Group also recorded double-digit revenue growth in 2020. Operating revenues exceeded 800 million kuna, with the EBITDA margin increasing by more than one percentage point, up to 18.6 percent. The growth of operating profit and the reduction of indebtedness through the repayment of existing credit liabilities outweighed the decline in liquidity, primarily here on the Croatian market, so that the indebtedness factor (net debt/EBITDA) decreased from 2.8x to 2.2x EBITDA during the year.
Growth was achieved in all three therapeutic areas – for influenza and colds, ophthalmology and dermatology.
According to shares in net sales, Russia is still their largest market with a 39 percent share, followed by B2B business and the Croatian market, followed then by Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Ivo Usmiani, chairman of the board, also announced new investments for the group.
“We’re becoming a real global player, ready to compete with the biggest. In terms of our core business, we generated 670 million kuna in operating revenues in our export markets, which represents 85 percent of exports in the structure of our sales. Therefore, there’s no stopping, this year we’re going to continue to invest in a new project, Integra 2020, worth 373 million kuna, whose financing we agreed with HBOR, and with which we strongly ensure the future development and technological capacity of the company. Our preparations for the future relate to investments in research and development, digitalisation and robotisation, as well as intensifying cooperation with the University of Rijeka, which we consider paramount,” concluded Ivo Usmiani.
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