2 August 2019 - Deborah Wilkes
Taisho Pharmaceutical expects its Self-Medication sales to increase by a quarter in the 12 months ended 31 March 2020 following recent acquisitions.
The Japanese company forecasts that Self-Medication sales will increase by JPY40 billion (USD0.38 billion) to JPY226 billion in the 12 months ending 31 March 2020. This represents a year-on-year rise of 25.2%.
On 1 July 2019, Taisho completed the acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb's French consumer healthcare business UPSA for USD1.6 billion. The company said UPSA was now a wholly-owned subsidiary (click here to read the News story).
On 20 May 2019, Taisho increased its stake in Vietnam's Duoc Hau Giang (DHG) Pharmaceutical from 24.5% to 51.01%. The company said DHG was now a consolidated subsidiary (click here to read the News story).
Following these acquisitions, Taisho said it now planned to expand its overseas business through a "bipolar structure targeting the European market in addition to the South-East Asian market".
Small rise in overseas sales
Reporting its financial results for the three months ended 30 June 2019, Taisho said overseas sales by its Self-Medication division had increased by 1.0% to JPY7.8 billion. More than 90% of this figure was generated in Asia, with the rest coming from Europe and America.
Overseas sales accounted for 18.2% of total sales by Taisho's Self-Medication division in the three months, which were up by 1.0% year-on-year to JPY42.9 billion.
Performance in Japan
The majority of Taisho's Self-Medication sales – 80.2% – were generated in its home market of Japan, where sales rose by 1.2% to JPY34.4 billion.
Commenting on the Japanese OTC market, the company said there had been strong sales gains in some categories, such as general cold remedies and anti-inflammatory analgesics, but sales in other categories, such as gastrointestinal treatments and cough suppressants, had been lacklustre. Overall, sales had been "largely steady year-on-year", added Taisho.
Sales of Taisho's largest brand in Japan, the Lipovitan range of energy drinks, were down by 4.0% to JPY12.8 billion (see Figure 1 below).
Sales of the division's second-largest brand – the Pabron range of winter remedies – were up by 12.8% to JPY5.8 billion.
Sales of the third-largest brand – the RiUp hair loss remedy – were up by 5.9% to JPY3.6 billion.
Sales by the Others segment within Taisho's Self-Medication division dropped by 5.4% to JPY0.7 billion in the three months.
Operating profit at the Self-Medication division was down by 7.2% to JPY7.03 billion. Research and development spend by the division was up by 10.6% to JPY1.40 billion.
Taisho's total sales, including the Prescription Pharmaceutical division, were down by 2.4% to JPY60.3 billion in the three months ended 30 June 2019.