Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Vivek, Mega Lifesciences. We have with us our colleagues, Mr. Thomas, take you through the financial results that you see before us. Our team is here from Mega to run you through the performance for the year, and then, brief from me, and then we'll start. So thank you. Let's start, if nothing more, no more. Nobody else is joining. Thomas, over to you. Will you introduce yourself?
I'll start the session with a brief synopsis of the FY 2023 performance. Overall revenue in FY 2023 was at about THB 15.68 billion, flat on a year-over-year basis. We have been able to maintain the high revenue base of FY 2022, as guided at the start of the year. Brands revenue in FY 2023 was about THB 8 billion, flat on a YOY basis. Mega We Care revenue for FY 2022 grew at a high rate of 16.6%. Even the high growth rate of 35% achieved over two years, FY 2021 and 2022. In FY 2023, we have been able to maintain the high revenue base of FY 2022, as we had guided at the start of the year.
Post-pandemic, despite the revenue from COVID friendly products tapering down from the high base of 22 and dropping significantly, the revenue from other category of products has shown growth, which shows the resilience of the company and the strength of the strong product pipeline, because of which we were able to maintain the high base in FY 2023. Distribution business revenue in FY 2023 declined by 5.5% on an adjusted basis, as we had guided at the start of the year. The decline in Maxxcare revenue is mostly attributable to the loss of one principal in Myanmar, as we had guided. Overall, in terms of revenue, we have been able to maintain the high revenue base of FY 2022, despite the decline of COVID-friendly products. Overall, gross profits in FY 2023 remained stable at 45% of operating revenue.
Branded business gross margins held steady at a healthy level of 65% in FY 2023, as guided earlier. Distribution business gross margins improved to 23.1% on adjusted basis, as against 20.1% in FY 2022. Gross margins of distribution business have improved partly due to the exit of one principal in Myanmar, which had a relatively low gross margin. Gross margins are also influenced by principal mix, among other factors. SG&A expenses in FY 2023 improved to 26.7% of operating revenue, as compared to 27.8% in FY 2022. Adjusted net profits in FY 2023 were steady at THB 2.3 billion, as against THB 2.3 billion in FY 2022, as guided at the start of the year.
Given the high growth rate of 60%, which was achieved over two years, FY 2021 and FY 2022, in FY 2023, we have been able to maintain the high base of FY 2022. Adjustments to net profits are made for Forex gains and losses, which includes a significant one-time FX loss from Nigeria and other items of income or expenses and losses from newly started business. Reported net profits in FY 2023 were THB 1.99 billion, as against THB 2.24 billion in FY 2022, reflecting a decline of 11% YOY. The decline mainly arising from the one-time impact of Forex cost due to depreciation of Nigerian naira against the dollar in FY 2023.
Operating cash flows in FY 2023 were healthy at about THB 1.9 billion, representing 97% of the profit, which again demonstrates the strength and resilience of the company's operations. We continue to be a net cash company with a strong balance sheet. On the CapEx front, we have spent THB 290 million baht towards CapEx in FY 2023, with majority spending towards consolidation of manufacturing operations and capacity expansion in Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia as guided. On the new products side, we have launched 15 new unique products in FY 2023, three products from the Nutra side and 12 products from the prescription side. Moving forward to 4Q 2023 performance. Overall revenue for 4Q 2023 was about THB 4.1 billion, up by 7% YOY, driven by both Mega We Care and Maxxc are business.
Branded revenue in 4Q 2023 was about THB 2.1 billion, up by 3.1% YOY. Distribution business was up by 9% on an adjusted basis. Overall, gross profits in 4Q 2023 remained stable at 46% of operating revenue. Branded business gross margins held steady at a healthy level of 64.3% in 4Q 2023, as against 65.3% in 4Q 2022, as we had guided earlier. Distribution business gross margins improved to 25% in 4Q 2023 on an adjusted basis, as compared to 22.6% in 4Q 2022. Gross margins of distribution business, as mentioned earlier, have improved partly due to the exit of one principal in Myanmar, which had a relatively low gross margin.
SG&A expenses improved to 26.6% of operating revenue for 4Q 2023, as against 30.7% in 4Q 2022. The SG&A spending in 4Q 2022 was relatively higher because the spending in 1Q 2022 was relatively lower, and this was as per plan for the year 2022. Adjusted net profits in 4Q 2023 were about THB 622 million, which improved by 20.4% YOY, mainly as a result of growth in operating revenue, stable gross margins, and reduction in SG&A expenses. Adjustments to net profits are made on account of Forex gains and losses, primarily on account of one time effects loss coming from Nigeria, expenses or taxes and losses from newly started business. Reported net profits in Q4 2023 were about THB 473 billion, up by 18.4% YOY, mainly due to the reasons as explained earlier.
... May I now request our CEO, Mr. Vivek Dhawan, to share his remarks on the financial performance for FY 23, and also the outlook for the year to be.
Thank you, Francis. Vivek Dhawan. So I think Francis has given you, I think, most of the facts of our performance in the quarter. All I'm going to say is that I think we are very pleased with the performance. I think it's a good result. Looking at 2021, 2022, when we actually saw 60% growth in our profits over two years. In on a normal period, this would have not happened. It is exceptional growth in profit. There are COVID range of products that probably make up some 24% of our business, and in most businesses, if you look around anybody, 30, 35, 40% reduction that happened in that part of the business. But in spite of that happening, our turnover has not come down.
If you look at our sales, in spite of distribution being, having some figure, the principal changes and all that, we have still been able to maintain overall revenue. That's the number one factor, which is very, very good to happen because of the other categories that we are in. So we are not only COVID-related products. Imagine we are only doing only COVID products and just launched some of them. So these are long-term products, and they are at a new base, and with that, we also have many, many new pharmaceutical drugs which are launched, are being launched. So I think nothing has changed phenomenally in our business plans. We have got a great pipeline in every country where we are. We are launching new one, completing the old one, and also the OTC side, our brands are growing.
Not related to COVID also, brands are growing. If you look at the growth of the remaining 70%, we probably also shown to cover all these, they must have grown 8%-10%, otherwise this would not happen so. So that means there is a healthy growth on what we are, what we have in there. And there's a very good possibility that 2024, there was overstocking, excess stocks, people are clearing off their stocks. Everybody is discounting to get rid of all the vitamin C they bought. 2024 should see some clearing up and things happening, and brands like ours, which are well-respected and for products that we sell, we should start seeing an upside in that category also.
So we are confident, and I think that's the guidance we have given: single-digit growth in branded revenue, distribution remaining nearly flat, and also profits also growing in that single digits. So that's still expected, and we have not changed that guidance. As we go along and how things look, I think we come back to you with more honest and more clear opinion. We have always done that. I'm confident that we come to you with reality where things... But as far as it looks now, we are on the same track, right track, and moving towards 2024. We have declared a dividend of 0.8% for our board approval. This will be ratified at the AGM, and similar to what we did last year, 1.65%.
So we're also projecting the same, we pay 0.8 in the first half, we should do 0.8 in the second half. Our boards approved it, but it has to go through the AGM. And on the other side, I think we have some 42 products in our launch plans in 2024. 13 of them are consumer health, or nutrition supplements, including 29 are prescription. So, they are in process. There are some 57 products that we have being launched all along between 2023 and 2024. 150 new products are registered under application in many of the markets we are in. Indonesia is seeing at least the manufacturing side, we are seeing an uptick. We are nearly maybe double, triple what we are doing in terms of production over the last two years, and we are ramping up capacity.
As agreed, we informed you, we are going to expand the plants, and we are also putting in a budget of some THB 274 million altogether as our CapEx for 2024, out of which THB 250 million goes towards Indonesia. THB 24 million is towards ESG in Thai. I think that's the budget plan. Other than that, we have our normal $3-4 million that we say in incidents improvement, redundancies, absolute obsolete equipment being replaced. There's normal upkeep of GMP, other things that we have. So that's the only CapEx that we are actually planning. Other than that, most of our business is in line.
If we don't see, and I don't see that Nigeria should have another big hit, because now starting recently, other than what we look like in the first quarter because of the numbers, but over the next nine months, we should probably sort that out. But now we have one rate, the CBN government rate, and the exchange is one rate. There are no two different rates in the market. And as you know, we sell at market rates. So with that happening, there should not be a very big gap in the exchange and should not have a big impact this year. Looking at all these things, pipeline, not big gaps, any other problem that we have, the market, we should be able to deliver.
I'm sure all of you will have a lot of questions on Myanmar, so before rather than answering each individual questions, you are as well aware, you are in the news, you are reading what's happening in Myanmar, and it's tougher and tougher in many, many ways. But having said that, the pharma business still continues to perform. We shall not see many growth. That's why he said that there's not going to be phenomenal distribution growth, it's gonna be pharma. And pharma still continues to import, sell, stock, and deliver and collect money. And because Myanmar doesn't have a major exchange issue, we sell in dollar, getting dollar rates and try and get our money out quickly. Hopefully, that should not be impacted. But again, this is our assumption, and we do that based on what we have seen.
When it will get tougher, it could have an impact. But at the moment, we believe things will continue as it is. We will not see an upside in Myanmar for a year or two, till there's some stability in the political front. But at the same time, other markets, Vietnam, Indonesia, where we are actually growing, all the markets we are, yes, we could see some growth. So we will accelerate some growth in other areas. So some of it will be compensated by little or no growth in there. So that's the general direction. I mean, I cannot give you a lot more information on Myanmar, because there's nothing much I can predict, and I cannot be talking anything about the political environment in Myanmar. We're still working in the country.
We still have a large team in the country, so we have sized it correctly. So I'm sorry if I can't give you a lot more direct information on Myanmar. But we are on the ground, and we still have taken a position that we should stay there and work there, and continue to do business in the country, because we are not doing anything but supplying medicines of the right quality to the people who still need it. So it's a necessity, and our job is there to be there, and we'll be there for a long time. So that's the only other thing that I wanted to comment on. Beyond that, I think we can start taking questions. You know, I think that's probably more than enough for the moment.
Are there any other topic which are more general you wanted to discuss, anything which is very common to... I think it was only Myanmar and India exchange. So these are common things which probably everybody will have on their mind. Other than that, there's nothing, nothing major. So over to all of you. As I, and I think Mr. Francis will probably say this as well. Please tell us who you are and from what organization, and then ask the question so we can answer it. And what we cannot do today, you're always welcome to call us, talk to us, and we are at your service. Thank you .
[Foreign Language] Hello. Hi, yeah. Hi, this is Thanapol from CGSI. Maybe just a few questions. So when you, when you guided earlier on the branded business growth of about-
Yeah.
Single-digit, how much of it will be driven by pharma and nutraceutical? So are the growth rates the same for the two segments, or are you expecting one segment to grow faster than another? Maybe some color on that.
I think pharma is definitely becoming a bigger part of our business. We told you this before also. I think we said by 2030, maybe you'll see 50/50, you know? Today we say 30, 10, 60, but I think the ratio will change, and it's changing. Because the, you know, the sheer size of pharma, you know, look at the market. If the, if the supplement market is $10 billion, the pharma market is $500 billion or something like that.
So it's 50-100 times bigger than the supplement market in some ways, you know, 50-500, 50 to 1 billion. So I think the pipeline being lower, the market size being bigger and the countries that we are entering with all these areas, urology or oncology, some ophthalmic areas. So we have a lot of pipeline in different areas, and that's... definitely, the pharma side will become bigger, 100%. But that, but that doesn't mean the consumer side is not growing. So I think our growth in consumer side will be over the counter also, we have GOFEN, we have range of product. We have also, we have pain management. We are launching herbal pain management, cold and cough we are taking to every country.
So I think that each area has its own growth potential, but by the sheer size and the number of product categories we have in the pharma will become bigger.
Okay. And what's the split between pharma... y es, yes. What? And what's the split between, the split between pharma and nutraceutical right now?
It will change, because today the split we said is 30, 10, and sixty, right? So it will probably become higher. The pharma will become thirty will become forty as slowly over time. We don't have an exact number, but if we say 30, by 2030, maybe pharma will become anywhere up to 50.
[175], 70% on new products line.
50% will go into-
35%.
Already 35. Already edging toward 35. So in the three, four years, as we say, anywhere between 28, 28 - 30, maybe a 50% growth.
Yeah.
It could be higher, but 50/50. Consumer health 50, pharma 50. Okay. And then my second question is on Indonesia. Maybe just see more. Can you elaborate on how the development has been coming along in, in the country? We have just mentioned we have two parts. One is imported products, so we have got a lot of imported products registered, and we have launched them. I, I have some, I don't have the exact number, but there has been a lot of products that we have got registration in Indonesia.
8 - 10.
8-10 products have been registered, and others are in pipeline. I see that here, and they have been launched already, some new, up to $1 million over is coming out of new products launched and registered. And then, the existing products in our portfolio in Indonesia. That also we are starting to ramp up some of them going into the generic or the government tender business, and the capacities are being ramped up over time. So we are hoping by slowly in two years' time, we should probably get 1 billion units in two years' time. So both sides, local production, local tech transfer, the current product and the tech transfer, all these things are ongoing. They take time, but the fact is that imported products have been launched, are growing, and new ones are under registration.
Existing products in the factory, we are ramping up production, and now we are competing in the local market. New tech transfer also started. We have some tech transfer plan. We are now going to start doing local production. Because we do transfers, get the product developed, register them. There are two parts: import and sell, grow what you had already and grow them, and three, register or do transfer in the local. All three areas we are working on, plus the over-the-counter as well. We have just got our first approval. I don't want to announce it in a big way because we haven't launched it, but we've got our first over-the-counter drug approval as well, which is probably in the next month or so will come to the market. I think a lot of interesting things happening.
We have to see how we do well and how well we get out with what we have told you. So we are working on it with our best efforts, and we hope this will show results in the next 2-3 years. And we are saying, what? By 2025, we should get to a break-even point, right? Somewhere there. That's our internal challenge at the moment there.
Sorry, can you repeat that again? So break even in 2025 or by twenty-
25 is our plan. Internal plan is to get there by 2025. That's what we are internally looking at. We had a longer plan, but we have now got it quicker, and we're also trying to grow our business in other areas as well. All these things are in motion already. They're in progress.
Okay, and maybe my last question is on Maxxcare. If you look at the gross margin for Maxxcare, it's been growing, you know, every quarter, even on the adjusted basis. So I understand that it's because of the exit of the principal, but is there any other driver that's been pushing up the gross margin for the segment?
I will ask Manoj or Francis to answer this question. Are there any reason about it?
See, I think the overall gross margins will remain in the 20%-22% range. Now, what you saw in the last quarter was, again, a mix of products and principals. So I think our long-term, you know, guidance is, I mean, for the next year, is still that 20%-22% range. Very difficult to predict the... Depends on which principal we sold, which product more, you know? Very difficult. That's the range we still stick by.
It's a mixture of agency, POC, DSC, and now more and more, a lot of our principals in Vietnam, we also do complete service, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the model there also changes. Probably in Myanmar also, the models are going to a little bit... A lot of them have feet on the ground. Pharma companies have feet on the ground. Consumer companies are now getting less feet on the ground. So the models are also changing, the margin side. And that gives you another look, changes the look. But the range is still 22 to-
Currently, I think the business still remains at that 20%-22%.
Anyone subscribe to the channel. With that, get right into the key specs. The Forza 165 is priced at $249 for the base edition.
Maybe there was a disturbance. Hello, Khun Thanapol, are you there?
Yes, sir, we are. I got your answer. Thanks.
Oh, okay. Thank you. Yuwanee, Yuwanee, you had a question, right? Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. For Indonesia, what is your revenue guideline in the next few years? I remember you used to give some guideline. Please.
I think it was 30.
No, I think, see, by 2030, we project seventy-
Fifty.
THB 50-70 million by 2030.
30 was our guidance to get to about $50 million by 2030.
Right.
I think by now we are already probably moving-
Well-
about 10+.
This year will be over six.
Indonesia, yeah, all put together, 40.
We don't break it down, break it down.
We don't break it down. But, yeah, it'll be over 10+ now. So we have a... By 2030, to get to THB 50 million. That's our plan. We have about-
Sorry, I didn't hear you quite well.
$50 million, $50 million, $50 million by 2030 is our plan.
$50 million U.S. dollar-
Yes.
by
Yes.
2030 .
2030. Yeah.
Yes. Now, we have about $10+ million U.S. dollar million-
Yes.
in revenue?
Yes.
Okay. Thank you. My second question is, we saw what has happened in Indonesia with... Sorry, in Nigeria, with the naira, depreciated by more than 50% in the last months. What is your take with this? How is it affecting your business?
I think the business in our, in pharma business, there are two things that happen. Can we convert this to pricing within the market? In Myanmar, in most countries, everything is dollarized. So whatever happens, everybody price is dollar. The only challenge in country where the receivables are long. In Myanmar, the receivables were never long. You collect money, so you don't lose any money. That's the model, right? You pay, you buy, you, you convert it, and you stay ahead of the dollar to the local rate. But if you have a sudden hit one night, you know, one, tomorrow morning, you wake up, it goes up 100%, then you, you can't do very much. You want money or cash here only. This, this is a general problem. So Nigeria had this problem, that happened was overnight, they corrected the rate.
The government just corrected the rate overnight, you know, so suddenly whatever line got corrected. But now I think that with this correction what's happened in the market and the government rates are becoming so close. And recently, I think last month, I think they made it one. The market rate and the open market rate is the same government. And the CBN window is one window now. You don't have two windows now. So we are hoping that you will not have two different rates, two different government rate and black market rates. So this will, if that's not there, then you have... And then we are pricing. So we correct our prices already to the new rate or higher than the new rate. So hopefully, this should not have an impact going forward.
Unless, again, NGN 1,500 become NGN 3,000 overnight, I'm sorry, I don't, I can't predict that. But looking at what the government been trying to do, it should not happen that way again. Other, other markets grow steadily, but we know this, this is the amount of exposure. 5 is becoming 5.5, 5.6. So we are correcting our prices to stay ahead, in most cases, wherever we can. And some maybe strategically we don't, we don't do it also because we, our, a lot of our costs are in local currencies, so in order to protect the profits. So there are models we, we are using for a long time and managing. But this was a very sudden hit, which we, I don't think anyone else would have predicted. So in Myanmar, basically, we have different model.
We borrow locally, we cover our local risk to local currency and convert. So we have a lot of ways to... Over the last 30 years, we have ensured currency. If you look at over the 30 years, in one year, minus one year plus, we should have every year we should have had a hit or a gain, maybe not much.
Another 1%.
But this is, this has been, probably has been an extreme, extreme, I would say extreme point. That's what I think. I mean, Mr. Thomas and the team here can also confirm with this, as in your history, this might be an extreme point.
Yeah, it is, it is. It is, it is probably the, yeah, because as, as some places we manage it more, more proactively. Here, you know, there was a problem in getting currency, so there was accumulation of cash. That is what happened. That position has improved, that position has changed, so we don't see that happening soon. But at the same time, what we do is, is that, you know, we price our products in the market at a higher rate than the current exchange rate. So even if there is a depreciation, you know, it is covered. These strategies we have changed. Pricing in the market is more than actually the what is the, you know, what is the actual exchange rate.
Exchange rate.
So these are mechanisms we are trying. I hope that answers your question, but there will be more.
Thank you. Two more questions, please. One is that we saw the SG&A to total revenues down in the fourth quarter. Can you please give us some color on that? And the second one is, please give us the outlook or update for the first quarter 2024, please. Thank you.
On that, SG&A, it's purely, you know, last year our SG&A in the last quarter was very high, because after COVID, people wanted to spend. So it went up unusually high to 30%. So that is never our, our average. So now it has come down to average rate. So if you analyze it, you will see that our SG&A is 26%, so we improved by 1% from last year. So the last quarter is not a good, good comparison, that we don't.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're absolutely right. The average is about 27?
Yes.
Yeah. Today also, you know what, what did you average? 20,
1% difference, yeah.
So we've always been in that range historically, in that range with turnover related. Because more, I think we have discussed this, a lot of our spending is based on turnover. Some, a lot of our activities are, one is fixed. Okay, fixed cost is OpEx. The other is A&P, retail promotions are all related to sales also. So generally, if sales doesn't happen, then you don't have this. So it doesn't vary that much. It's remained very stable. Very, very rare cases you will have an impact of 1% because you've advertised. Last quarter, we had advertised in TV and then we have... But it's not, still it's not above the line, it's a very small part of our business anyway. It's not 8-10% of our budget, if you look at in advertising budget.
It's a very small part of our budget. So generally, I think it remains within that, you know, ±1% range. That's, I think, how it is there. That's how it works in that range. It's kind of budget we have in every country, and we trickle it down to every market. You know, it's controlled through the, you know, sales versus spending budgets are controlled that way.
Vivek, just to the other part of your question, you know, guidance for first quarter. See, normally we try to avoid guiding quarter to quarter, because for reasons that we have told you, because there are, you know, seasonal fluctuations, a lot of things there. And it's, given the COVID peak last year, these are not comparable quarters as well. Also, we have some 40, 43 products getting launched this year. Now, impact of all this, you will only see, you see it in the annual, annual, you know, performance. That's why we would like to stick to our annual guidance, wherein we, Vivek, mentioned that we will—our brands should grow mid, mid single digits and distribution will be flat. And even our profitability, we're looking at, I mean, single digit growth.
I think, you know, quarter to quarter is going to be very, very tricky to guide. You know, maybe perhaps not even the right thing to do. Thank you.
Thank you. I have no more questions.
Thank you. So Narumon, may we request you to ask a question?
Yes, please. Hi, thank you. Hi.
Hi, Sawadee.
Hi, Sawadee-ka. Thank you very much for your present recap for the performance. I have a couple simple questions on fourth Q. ... Could you please break down the FX losses for Q 23? I understand that it came from, like, Malaysia, Nigerian and Myanmar, right? So it would be great if you break down which one is much more large contribution for FX. Do you have any number breakdown?
70, yeah, 70, 80% of it comes out of Nigeria.
Okay, sure.
Because in Myanmar, we don't have a huge, Forex impact. Very little.
Yeah, and one more thing, what is the contributions of Nigerian sales in 2023 or the fourth?
Very little.
Yeah. I understand it's one, one-
We don't break it down, but it's very-
Yeah
... insignificant, a blend of it all.
Is it fair to say that's low single-digit contributions of revenue from Nigeria?
Sorry, can you ask again? Can you come again?
Is it fair to say that the revenue from Nigeria is, like, a low single-digit contribution?
You're right. You're right. You're absolutely right. So low single digit contribution.
Correct.
The impact on the Forex loss, they have contributed 70%.
Huh.
80, 70%, 80%. You're correct. Absolutely right.
Yes, ka, ka. Thank you, ka. And one more question on the balance sheet, on account receivable, we saw that the account receivable overdue over three to six months has been jumped at year-end last year. So could you please elaborate more on that item? And probably it would be great if you tell us about the outlook for AR overdue. Thank you, naka.
I think, see, you should look at Mega's working capital overall, rather than focusing only on the AR. If you look at our cash cycle, our cash cycle has gone up from 128 days to 132 days, and this is in the range. Now, the way our business is structured, we have government tenders. We supply to government. Sometimes governments take a long time to pay back. So it... From quarter to quarter, these changes will happen. Our overall cash flow is within, the cash cycle is within the range. Now, again, if you look at, you know, places like Myanmar, sometimes there are cash hold-ups. Sometimes it takes time, but this has been corrected. So you will see a correction of this happening this year.
I mean, I think the most critical aspect of aspect that you should focus on is the cash cycle, which is still within the range.
Mm.
Also, if you look at our operating cash flows, 97% of the profit we have as operating cash flow also shows that the cash flow is very strong. So these are, you know, temporary things that we will get corrected as long as the cash cycle is well, right?
Sometimes we have tender to stock, nine-month stock-
Mm.
in the country, right? And sometimes visas expire, you know, we cannot give you every small detail. A product is expiring, you have to import one-year stock. So these are also again, things, you know, payable, receivable can change because of certain extreme conditions over.
Operating cash flow is very strong, so you should, you should also go by that.
Even as compared to thirtieth September, our overdue position is much better than it was December.
Yes, yeah.
You can correct that.
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I didn't doubt about your cash flow. It's actually strong, I, I agree, but just wanna know in the details why the the details of the account receivable is quite, you know, changed from the three, probably, from the business change. Yeah. But doesn't mind, I just manage.
It's not a doubtful debt.
No, no, no.
Is that okay? Is that clarified? Yeah. Okay, thanks.
Okay, ka.
Thank you, ka. Any more questions from our investors, followers, shareholders?
There is one more from Harry. Please go ahead, Harry.
Harry?
Hi. Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, Harry.
Great, thank you, and congratulations on the strong numbers, given the circumstances. Just... Sorry, a question on the Forex, and apologies if you already mentioned this, but, how come... So I saw that THB 300, when you're calculating adjusted net profit, the THB 300 is added back, but there was a loss of THB 700. So does that imply that the THB 300 was related to the Nigerian mismatch in the currency rates?
I think, you know, if you look at our NPM, and we have been, you know, guiding this from last year or year before.
Yeah.
In Myanmar, we have a dual currency, you know, situation, wherein the actual currency, the government approved, is 2,100 or something, but actually the actual transacted rate is over 3,000. So when we report, and when we actually account for the payment, there's a gap, because we book our, you know, all our purchases and all that in 2,100. So it's a dual currency situation, which we actually remove to normalize it. So it's not a Forex, you know, loss, it is because of this accounting glitch, because of the dual currency rates. And we have been guiding this and explaining this for the last two years. If you go back and see in our NPM.
Yeah, yeah.
The real Forex loss is only THB 300 million, out of which-
Okay.
50% is Myanmar.
Nigeria.
I'm sorry, thanks, Nigeria.
Nigeria, yeah, yeah. And so that, that's the reason why you, for the adjusted net profit, you add that back-
Okay.
Okay. And you just mentioned that there's some of the business which is for government tenders. How much would that be as a percentage of total? It's very difficult to put a number on it, I think it is.
In Vietnam, in Thailand, and in Indonesia, here in pharma business, Myanmar and these government now have a universal healthcare scheme, and they buy.
Right. Okay.
It's not something that we are not into HIV-
Yeah.
or we are not into TB.
Yeah.
-or COVID.
Yeah.
These are normal products that are hypertension or diabetes, and we are bidding in, we are listed in the exchange, and based on some somewhere it's a median price basis, somewhere it's based on your criteria, that we are saying selected. And then we have to we win them on price, and we supply over a year, over whatever the period of the tender is. And in some countries, the tender depends on hospitals also. There's an amount, but actual purchase happens on hospital you know quotas or where they have demand. So there are different models. These are not exactly that you win a tender, and they buy everything in some case.
Mm. Okay.
So everywhere we are in drug, different countries have different model. Malaysia government buys something, but we only participate in some, which are some part of that. So there is, our 60% business is retail, 40% is drug. Otherwise, there is some portion of that for-
Understood.
Depending on the country. It's normal business. These are called tenders, but they come to, and then we supply them to hospital, you know, individual hospitals. So, as I said, these are not big, single, big one. I won the tender for COVID vaccine. No, not one time.
Yeah, yeah.
These are annual, every annual affair.
Sure.
It's a normal thing that happens.
Okay. And, just with regards to Indonesia, you mentioned there was, you know, there's domestically produced products, and then they're imported. And I understand that in Indonesia you can get a better price when the product is manufactured domestically. Does that mean that you get a-
It's not, let me clarify. There are a group of products that they allow you to import, because they are not—either they are under patent, or there are not enough producers in the country, only one originator is there. Till that, you can get an import license, and when you get import, you give a commitment in 5 years you shall manufacture locally, because that's the regulation. In some cases, they may extend if there are no other players or they are complex materials, they may allow some extension. So that's the model. So most products are made locally. Now, do you get better pricing if you make locally? No, I don't think so. That is to do with tender and competition. Now, it's very simple. If you win and you are approved, then you can supply.
Government can choose to buy from one, two, or three. So you are basically competing with other local players on a pricing, right, into the open market. But the buyer is, the payment is to the government. Government has a universal healthcare scheme. So the hospital, they may-
Yeah.
- buy, but it will be reimbursed to the government, that's all. So you have a competitive... You are selected, and then you are competing with the other three, four people who are also fighting in that category. That advantage of having higher prices and all that Indonesia had, is now very competitive in the drug area. It's a competitive market, so unless you are playing very unique product that other people don't have. So all of us are trying to have newer product that we are bringing in to the market, that we can bring in. So we have a strategy. We are bringing in new products through the import route, and then over time, converting them to local manufacturing. That's why we have a plant there.
And whatever we can make locally, and what we already making locally, we are ramping on certain areas where we can compete on volume. So some are volume drivers, some are new products coming out from imports. Over the next five years, we bring them to local manufacturing while we keep adding new products to import. And at the same time, we are doing OTC products as well, trying to build an OTC platform for our products.
Okay. Thank you. That, that's helpful.
Andrew, Andrew, please go ahead with the question.
Yeah. So I've just a couple of questions. Just one, you mentioned on distribution, that your Vietnamese business, they're doing—the principals there are doing a more full service operation. Can you just sort of comment how big is the Vietnamese business for distribution today, and what sort of growth rates you're seeing?
Our distribution business, we are not a very large distributor, as we mentioned in the past. We are only doing pharma in Vietnam. A large part of that business is Mega own brands. I would say 70%, probably 65%-70% is our own. 35%, we have partners who have left. Some of them do complete service with us. We import stock, sell, deliver, so our margins are, maybe not, not as big as our branded business, but little bit better, you know, because we also do complete marketing, sales, and services for them. Thereby, we also select which products to play in. So that's large, that's the larger part.
There's only a very small part of the business, I would say 10%-15% of the overall distribution, where we work with partners who have their own teams on the ground, and we are only importers and, you know, service providers. So our model has largely shifted to full agency, branded business, and a small part of our legacy partners remain with us, who have their own team on the ground. And that's the model we follow, and we believe, and we are building on more branded. And with that, with that kind of size, as we grow $100-$200 million of our own business, I think the, our distribution also strengthens our ability to reach outlets....
We cover like in Vietnam today for some of our brand, and I heard, if I'm not wrong, about 30,000 outlets for our smallest product-
Mm-hmm.
and some product up to 18,000 outlets. So I think this is where our strength comes in, that we can do work and activities on the retail as well. It's a combination of both. We still have partners, and we work with them. So I think that's the model in Vietnam, but Cambodia and Myanmar are more distribution companies and, I mean, real Maxxcare division business, where we actually handle both consumer and pharma companies and provide them services of pure distribution. In some cases, we also house their principals to sit with us, and they have their independent teams as well. So Vietnam is a little bit more moving towards more agency, large agency, more agency and our own brands. And some proportions, 15%-20%, I would say.
This is my estimate, but I could be a little bit, little bit off the mark with the exact percentages, but not very far away, I think. Sanil probably can... So maybe in that range, if you look at the total, I would-
So you're saying-
But we can, we can have more detail, we can take a look at that. We have to look at it. I have to look at the numbers exactly. It's not off, but I'm just giving off the top of my head, so I'm very sorry if they're a little bit off the mark.
Okay.
But that's the model. Model A, model B. We have two models, right? So we have two types of distribution model.
Mm-hmm. Okay, thank you. And just on the other one, you talked about launching 42 products this year. Does that mean there'll be, I suppose, an increase in the A&P side of things as you launch those products?
Generally, as we mentioned, we are not a company that goes on TV the day we launch a new product.
Sure.
These are added to our existing line. They get into selected retail outlets, and we go out. And also the majority out of 42, 29 are pharma. There is some cost. I don't say there is zero cost, because you do seminar, you do launches. So it's not zero, but it's not huge as well. So it's not going to have a major difference that our A&P shoots up by 50%. There will be some increase, but then sales also happen, right? So they balance each other.
Yep.
Spending is spread over three years, we take time.
We have to spend three years, launch it, get in the market, before we go above the line that much. Above the line is a later activity.
Okay, and so how quick do these things ramp up to sort of maturity where-
We give it three years. In three years.
Right.
We can see them becoming at least a significant $500,000-$1 million brand between anywhere there it comes.
See, again, one thing if you look at us, our new products, during COVID, we hardly had any launches.
Mm-hmm.
In the last two years, there were only four launches. In last year, I mean, this year, I mean, 2023, we launched some 14 products.
Fourteen.
This year, we are launching 43 products. So this is also a pent-up, you know, the pent-up, you know, all the products coming in from the COVID, you know, no activity. So this ideally is probably a big, big base, you know, I mean, compared to if you were to look at our current, product base, I mean, product base, we have some 50-50 products contributing 70%-80% of the revenue. So this is, you know, probably the largest launch, you know, you know, that we have had if you look at the past. So this should have the next 3-4 years, you know, you know, an impact on our growth, what we have seen.
And sorry, did you say about 50 products account for 70%-80% of your business?
Yes.
About 50, 50 products contribute to 70-
Correct.
Seventy.
Okay. Great. Okay, thank you very much.
Thanks, Andrew. We have one more hand raised, Jamshed. Could you please proceed with the question? Hello?
Any more questions? You can start if you have a question, please, we have Jamshed.
We see a hand raised. Is there a question there?
Jamshed, you have a question?
I think there's no other question.
All right. I think if there are no more questions, then all of them seems to be answered. If not, we are available, as I said, anytime to answer more. Thank you once again for your understanding, for your support and being there. During these times, hopefully, we will get back to the good old days. Not that COVID should come back, without COVID, we should be back on track and growing our business in the next few years. So once again, thank you so much. I'll see you next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you.
Bye-bye. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Bye.