The patient comes first
In H1 2013, Pelion Healthcare Group sales totalled PLN 3.7bn, which represents an 11.1% rise on the corresponding period of 2012. EBITDA for the period was PLN 106m. Net margin remained low at 1.5%, with net profit at PLN 56.2m.
The Company's financial performance is a result of its long-standing geographical and business diversification strategy. Pelion operates across the pharmaceutical distribution segments, supplying medicinal products to pharmacies, hospitals, and other wholesalers, selling pharmaceuticals through its retail 'Dbam o Zdrowie' chain, and providing related services to pharmaceutical manufacturers. The Company has also been present on the Lithuanian market for the last five years.
The patient comes first
Pelion's primary objective is to provide patients with care and informed advice during drug therapy, and ensure that patients can buy their drugs comfortably and at affordable prices. To this end, we make every effort to provide the best possible products and services to both privately-owned and hospital pharmacies across Poland. Pelion Healthcare Group's own pharmacies are the focal points of our '60+ Programme' for people over 60 years of age, offering them access to drugs at the best prices as well as educating and informing them about cheaper treatment options. The programme has 1.3 million participants who have saved almost PLN 150 million on pharmaceuticals so far. Recent research shows that the seniors participating in the 60+ Programme ask for, and buy, cheaper substitutes more frequently than other patients from the same age group. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical insurance products offered at our pharmacies are of particular importance in the context of increasing drug spending in Poland, low reimbursement rates, and the government's efforts to achieve more budget savings. With these products, insured customers pays premiums to a private insurer, which covers them against illness and high therapy costs. As of today, tens of thousands of people have already joined the pharmaceutical insurance plans co-arranged by Pelion. Complementing the traditional pharmaceutical care provided by our pharmacies is the www.doz.pl website, which provides comprehensive drug information as well as online ordering of medicine for collection at any pharmacy in Poland. By offering the broadest range of pharmaceutical products and also being a solid source of reliable information, the website receives some three million visits every month. We also offer the possibility of ordering drugs by smartphones which are increasingly popular as communication devices.
With the growing threat from counterfeit medicines around the world, service quality is particularly important. Pelion Healthcare Group establishes business relations solely with reliable partners who meet the highest production and distribution standards for medicinal products. Combined with our presence along the entire pharmaceutical distribution chain, our state-of-the-art technological solutions enable us to track the progress of every product, from manufacturer to customer. Even today, the scale and reach of our operations help protect patients against fake pharmaceuticals.
New challenges ahead of Pelion Healthcare Group
Pelion Healthcare Group is now focused on adjusting its operations to the proposed amendments to the drugs reimbursement law. These include a planned reduction of statutory wholesale margins down to 5% as of January 1st 2014. Part of our response to these regulatory changes is to further reduce our operating costs, which is a serious challenge given the stringent security and safety standards in pharmaceutical distribution. While it is also possible that we will further decrease the frequency of our deliveries to pharmacies and downsize our development projects, in tackling the challenging market conditions the synergies delivered by all our business lines will be of great help.
Given the difficult regulatory environment in Poland and the excessively long payback period on investments made in the last 15 years, the Company is still considering entering other European markets, while assuming a cautious approach to investments at home.
The table below presents the H1 2013 financial highlights, along with comparative year-on-year data:
| H1 2013 | H1 2012 | Change | |
| Revenue (PLNm) | 3,691,2 | 3,322,3 | 11.1% |
| EBITDA (PLNm) | 106.0 | 57.6 | 84.0% |
| EBITDA margin (%) | 2.9% | 1.7% | +1.2 pp |
| Operating profit (PLNm) | 87.9 | 38.2 | 130.1% |
| Operating margin (%) | 2.4% | 1.1% | +1.3 pp |
| Net profit attributable to owners of the Parent (PLNm) | 56.2 | 10.9 | 416.2% |
| Net margin (%) | 1.5% | 0.3% | +1.2 pp |
| Earnings per share (PLN) | 4.95 | 0.91 | 444.0% |
Based on data in PLN '000
For further details please contact:
Renata Borkowska-Kubiak
PR Executive Officer/Press Officer for Pelion S.A.
Tel. (+48 42) 200 79 19
Mobile: (+48) 785 858 991
Fax (+48 42) 61 33 535
E-mail: renata_borkowska-kubiak@pelion.eu
Pelion S.A., formerly Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna S.A., has operated on the market for twenty-three years. It began life as a local pharmaceutical wholesaler. In 1998, the Company's shares were floated on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Proceeds from the initial public offering fuelled the Company’s dynamic growth and allowed it to embark on consolidation of the pharmaceutical wholesale market. Since its floatation, the Company has secured a top position among domestic distributors of medicinal products. Today, Pelion Healthcare Group is one of the largest groups operating on the healthcare markets in Poland and Lithuania. The Company's services cover all market segments (wholesale, retail and sale to hospitals) and are targeted at individual patients, pharmacies, hospitals and manufacturers. As a holding company, Pelion S.A. oversees all areas of the Company’s operations, which are conducted by PGF S.A. and Pharmapoint Sp. z o.o. (wholesale), PGF Urtica Sp. z o.o. (sale to hospitals), CEPD N.V. (retail sale), and Pharmalink Sp. z o.o. (services for manufacturers).
