All right. Good. 说 话 好 。 Good afternoon. My name is Vivek. Vivek Dhawan, CEO of Mega Lifesciences. I'm here with my colleagues, Mr. Manoj, Deputy CFO, Mr. Francis, Vice President, Finance. We are all here today to present our Q1 results, performance, and give you some flavor of what's going to happen in the next part of the year. 说 话 好 。 ท ุ ก ท ่ า น ค ร ั บ . ว ั น น ี ้ เ ร า จ ะ เ ร ิ ่ ม ป ร ะ ช ุ ม แ ล ้ ว น ะ ค ร ั บ . เ อ ่ อ ถ ึ ง เ ว ล า แ ล ้ ว น ่ า จ ะ เ ป ิ ด ไ ด ้ ค ร ั บ .
เ อ ่ อ ท ำ เ อ ่ อ ไ ห น ม ี ค ำ ถ า ม อ ะ ไ ร ก ็ ร อ ใ ห ้ ค ุ ณ ม า โ น ช เ อ ่ อ พ ู ด ค ุ ย ก ่ อ น น ะ ค ร ั บ . แ ค ่ inform เ ร ื ่ อ ง ผ ล ง า น ก ่ อ น . เ อ ่ อ แ ล ้ ว ก ็ ผ ม จ ะ เ ป ิ ด ข ้ อ ม ู ล ใ ห ้ ค ร ั บ ข ้ อ ม ู ล ก า ร ก ล า ง ๆ น ิ ด น ึ ง ค ร ั บ .
ห ล ั ง จ า ก น ี ้ เ ร า จ ะ ฟ ั ง ค ำ ถ า ม แ ล ้ ว ก ็ ต อ บ น ะ ค ร ั บ . We will try and answer your questions English, Thai, whatever we can. Thank you for attending. Over to you, Mr. Manoj, today, and I'll then later on have a short session. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir. A warm welcome to everyone to the first quarter 2023 earnings call. Thank you for your participation. This is how the agenda for today's today's session would be. I will be providing a brief synopsis of the financial performance of first quarter 2023. Our CEO, Mr. Vivek Dhawan, will provide his views on first quarter 2023 as well as the future guidance for the year. Finally, we will open the forum for the Q and A. When we will have the session on Q and A, we would request you to please let know your name and the company you're representing while you're raising your questions. Thank you very much for participation. This is how we go on the first quarter 2023 performance.
Our overall revenue has been at THB 3,728 million for first quarter 2023, representing a decline of 2.4% YoY, which is mainly coming from the distribution business. Segment-wise, the branded business has remained flat. In Q1 2022, our branded business had grew at 32.6%, we already had a very high base for Q1 2023. In spite of that high base, we have been able to maintain our branded business at flat for Q1 2023, which itself is a significant achievement. Southeast Asia remains stable, and Africa grew by 5.6%, all represented by stable consumer demand.
The distribution business, if you look at it, on a normalized basis, normalization done because of the dual currency impact in Myanmar, which we explained in our earlier earnings call. The distribution business normalized as de-grown by 12.8%. Our reported numbers decline has been at 4%. Overall, distribution business is declining primarily also because of one of the principles which we lost, which we already guided in our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Overall, a decline of 2.4%, again, mainly coming from distribution business. I'll explain why the branded business remaining quite strong and stable as compared to Q1 2022, which was a very high growth quarter in last year.
Overall, if you look at the gross margins, the gross margins for first quarter 2023 has been at 43.6%, which is very similar to what we had in first quarter 2022, which was at 44.9%. This is on the overall basis. Coming to the segmentation, the gross margins for our branded business for Q1 2022 was at 69%, whereas in first quarter 2023, it has reached to sustainable levels. As we have guided between 63%-65% as always, the first quarter 2023 has been at 64.6%.
Last year in first quarter 2022, there was a high gross margin primarily arising on account of product mix and high level of productions which we had in first quarter 2022, which resulted in a very abnormally high gross margin Q1 2022. Which during the year tapered down to 67% by the year-end FY 2022. Distribution business gross margins normalized have been at 19.9%, which is at similar levels of Q1 2022, where the gross margins were 18.8%. SG&A expenses have been at 27.6%, which is very similar to FY 2022 levels, where the SG&A expenses was 27.8%.
You could have noticed in Q1 2022, our SG&A expenses was abnormally low at 25.9% because our quarter-to-quarter spendings are not linear. By the year-end 2022, our SG&A expenses were at 27.8%. Overall, if you look at the SG&A expenses, they are also fairly similar to last year, FY 2022. The adjusted net profits have been at THB 546 million, representing a small decline of 4.3% as compared to first quarter 2023. The adjustments which we have done to the net profits are mainly arising on account of Forex losses. In 1Q 2023, we had a Forex loss, primarily arising on account of appreciation of Thai baht to US dollar, which has resulted in higher Forex loss in first quarter 2023.
We have also normalized the SG&A expenses because first quarter 2022, the SG&A expenses were abnormally lower, which gradually went up by the year-end 2022 and reached to the similar levels as we have incurred in first quarter 2023. Overall, our reported net profits have been at THB 453 million, representing a decline of 26.1%. The operating cash flow has been at THB 311 million, which represents 69% of the net profits. We continue to remain a net cash company with a strong balance sheet. The overall CapEx spending which we did in first quarter 2023 was THB 53 million. Which was majorly towards THB 22 million for consolidation of manufacturing operations and capacity expansion in Thailand. 13 million baht we spent for renovation of our office in Thailand.
On the new product launches, we plan to launch 25 new products in FY 2023, representing 70% of it coming from prescription and 30% coming from Nutra. In quarter one 2023, we launched six new products, which are five from Nutra and one from prescription, which gradually in coming three years will start contributing meaningfully to the top line and the bottom line. This is in a brief synopsis of first quarter 2023. May I request our CEO, Mr. Vivek Dhawan, to share his views on the results as well as guidance for the year. Thank you.
Thank you, Manoj. Thank you. I think you have a flavor of what's happened. I think everybody is quite aware that 2021, 2022 were COVID years. COVID years, if you look at the 2019 results and you see our profitability was somewhere around the THB 1.2 billion mark. In the last three years, we have actually delivered THB 1 billion over in three years' time, which is, I think phenomenal. A lot also had been helped with COVID, along with whatever else we were doing. There is definitely one, there was everybody went into COVID products and everybody started to sell vitamin C, while Mega also did. We still have a very stable and a strong vitamin C business. What we are seeing in Q1 2023 is normal. We expected that.
What you saw in 2022 first quarter was a surge in Thailand. It was the best ever quarter in history. We cannot take 2022 as a basis for the whole year. That's the first thing. Second is our vitamin C business, even though it's declined, it's not come back to the 2019 levels. It is still at a new base. A lot of the products that we are doing for immunity, for health have got and reached a new level. The good sign is many of our products still are very stable and are there, are still maintaining their top level as they were during the last two, three years. There are a few very related to only immunity, and they have an impact. As I said, over the years, they were not there.
Some were very small, have become much bigger, and they continue to remain there. That's the expectation. On a normal behavior, they are at a new level. Number two, all our other businesses which are non-COVID related are doing reasonably well. Not only stable, they are also growing. Our drug business, which is also become now over nearly 40% of our total turnover, is also performing very well. As Manoj just mentioned, we have got 2025 new products to be launched in 2023. We are developing nearly 152 new products that are in our pipeline. These all plans that we have put in place continue, and they will remain, and they are gonna deliver on our plan.
We had promised you, we had projected to you that by 2025, 2026, we should be doubling our profit somewhere to the range of THB 2.4 billion or THB 2.5 billion. I am sure we are on track to deliver that. That's the medium-term 2025 guidance. What's going to happen in this year? I think looking at the situation that we are in today, we are hoping for a flat year. We were talking about let's see how the quarter one looks like. Quarter one, quarter two, flat or slightly better or slightly lower. ± single-digit is what we are expecting. The reasons are also to do with, I mean, distribution in Myanmar has been impacted with the political scenario there. In spite of that, our drug business holds on and is still doing reasonably well.
Some parts of the business are not, but the impact on profits are not phenomenal. Still, the growth potential is not what it used to be in Myanmar. With the turmoil around the world, Ukraine, Sudan, Sri Lanka, we have seen difficult times. We are very confident that coming forward, these all things are going to improve, and they should be positive for whatever we are doing in all these markets. Our focus still remains Asia, Southeast Asia. As you know, we invested money in Indonesia. Now we are seeing some very good traction in Indonesia. Things are getting better. We have got a lot of registrations in oncology now, and we have started to launch them, imported products. We've also started to increase capacity in our facilities there, and it's now producing on a regular basis.
Our plant modification and development was planned at THB 160 million, I think. That's also now in the final stages of finalizing, and we should start building by quarter three. Hopefully, we should be building, and in a year's time, be ready to launch a few other product that we plan to make there. That's enhancing, making capacities bigger, launching a soft capsule line and all those things we are doing. All these things are in progress, and we remain confident, that we should be achieving our goals in 2025. Africa plans are still there. We are still working. I mean, they have also been hit with this Ukraine war and oil prices and all that, and currency exchange rates have gone haywire.
Having said that, population future in sub-Saharan Africa at 600 million people, and our branded business and the product range we have from Ethiopia down to Ghana. We remain committed and we remain excited about Africa, and we think given the time we should be there. We opened Colombia about a year and a half ago. We are having good traction there. Peru as well, we have started to cover not only chains but also pharmacies and launching other products. Between Peru, Colombia and some other smaller market, we are also looking at Latin America. Given some time, we should see more traction coming out from our branded business from all these areas.
Another commitment we have just made with our board and come to an agreement that we should be investing another $20 million approximately in Vietnam to set up a drug facility, very dedicated to a special type of very unique NDDS new drug development dosage forms, which will also. More detail will come out, we are hoping to be ready and start at least the building process in the next four, five months' time. That's the plan. That's another investment and building our strengths in the country where we have presence for the last, since 1993. It's already, what? Nearly 30 years. Getting close to 30 years in Vietnam. We have a strong team, and we see that as a future for future development. I think from my side, that's about it.
All the other things move and are progressing well. We continue to build the Mega We Care brand, the credibility, the work we are doing through our wellness center, content creation, reaching out to the consumer. That hasn't stopped at all. We are fully back in trade. Activities are up 100%. We are in the pharmacies, consumer engagement programs. We are doing a lot of other work that we are doing across the world, wherever we are. Things are back to normal, and that's why as you, as you saw, the SG&A is not 25 but it's 27 point something, which is our general average in that range, 28, 27.5, 28 point something. On a, on an average basis, it's the same. Last year, first quarter was lower, but at the end it averaged out.
I think Manoj just tried to explain this to you. We can't look at the quarter, we can't only look at one year. Mega is in business, has been building brand for the last 30 years, and we believe the next five years also, we are not going to change this path. Credibility, strong brands that work, right dosage forms, clinically proven and in all the areas that we are in. Our OTC drugs, our drugs, our supplements and supplement, which are medical supplements, as I call them, complementary medicine and all the other thing that we do, even foods that also help in managing similar disease and health conditions, including lifestyle, where we are doing education work at our wellness center with a lot of programs and connecting to our end consumers.
All this carries on, and we remain confident that we should be able to deliver on our promise and build a regionally strong, healthy company that continues to be a part of your life, part of consumer life and helping them in their wellness journey. That's what it is. That's what from my side. I'm going to open the floor up to questions now. As Manoj said, please tell us your name, company name and your question, and we'll try and answer them as quickly as possible. Anything we miss, we are available all the time on call here. Please do contact us. Team here is ready to answer, take your questions and get back to you. That's about it. Yes, please. Over to you. Thank you very much. Are there any online questions also? You can read it.
Oh, I can read that.
Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes, please. Carry on.
Hi. This is Thanaporn from CGS-CIMB. Just one question on Vietnam. You mentioned earlier that you are investing in a facility in Vietnam, right? I'm not sure I've caught the details, so if you could reiterate that. Is it the same as what you had hoped to build in Myanmar a few years ago, where it was a research facility?
Little bit different. I think a little bit different. Myanmar, we were looking at an integrated back-end facility with APIs. In Vietnam, we are going to build a European world-class pharmaceutical-only facility and largely focused on Vietnam business and for drug supplies to our other markets as well. It is still very targeting Vietnam market because Vietnam also has regulatory requirements. You know, there are like Indonesia, like Thailand, many countries are working the other way around. They have centralized production, but a lot of the countries are also very inward-looking. They want local production. There are certain benefits of in government tendering, et cetera, et cetera. There are reasons, and also from a point of view of what we produce and market on, in multiple countries, products that we do so.
Our plan is to invest, and build a facility which is medicine of or drug, RX prescription drug-focused at the moment. That's our plan.
By facility, you mean a manufacturing facility or is it a research facility?
Yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly. You're right.
You'll be making drugs in Vietnam?
Yes, we will. We'll be making finished formulations, finished products, yes.
From what I understand, your current utilization at your existing plants in Thailand are, I mean, not even close to full. Is there a reason to build such facility in Vietnam?
Yeah. I think I've tried to explain this before as well. In pharma plants, you don't try to. You can't run them for full capacity, you know? Capacity depends on one shift, two shift, three shift. In this facility in Thailand, it's very different. We run it three shift because we this is a 24-hour plant. Most pharma plants only run one shift, you know, because they because of the way they are structured. You know, you make. You don't run them three shifts. Generally not, but you can, because there are a lot of requirements of quality assurance, quality control. You need to have a lot of people on the ground while you run the shifts at night. Generally, they run one shift. A and B. It's also to do with the requirement, you know.
In Indonesia, you have to produce locally, as you understand. You have to have a pharma company producing locally. Imports are only allowed for certain products if they are not produced in the country and are still under patent, et cetera, et cetera. Similarly, in Vietnam, there are certain requirements, there are certain benefits, certain advantages in competing in certain categories. This is designed for largely to succeed in Vietnam. Those products we don't make in Thailand anyway, so it's not something that we are shifting from Thailand to Vietnam. They are probably at the moment being imported from different places. It's a different, it's a different strategy. It's a Vietnam-focused strategy, but with the potential to also sell similar products in other markets where we are already doing that.
We are registered with similar products in our 20 countries. It could become a supplies point for other market. That's not the reason why it's being done. It's being done for Vietnam.
Okay. That's quite clear. Maybe just another question on if you can comment on how each country performs relative to each other in the first quarter, and how do you see it going forward?
Each country what? Sorry, I didn't get it. Sorry.
How each country perform in your branded business?
We don't go by country performance, I think, but generally the trend is very similar. COVID-related products, when we go on Nat C, Nat D, a few of them which are very COVID related, have seen a decline. Worldwide as well, if you look at American market, Indian market, everybody has declined 50%, 60%. You will see that. You will probably look around, you will see that in the consumer business. But in our case, the declines are not that much. We have seen growth in non-COVID products going up by 13%-14%. We have seen declines in COVID product, which anyway are made up. We have a, if we have a 100 portfolio, our supplements are 60% and the drugs are 40%.
Out of the 60%, I would say 20% or 30% of them are COVID related. Could be, could be we can define them as COVID. Not all are COVID. I mean, multivitamin are not COVID, but people took more because of COVID. 20%, 30% are limited are probably. That has seen a decline. That has seen a decline, meaning it grew 40%, 50% is declined 20%. It's still higher than 2019, but it's declined compared to 2022, first, especially first quarter. First quarter was huge when COVID came to hit Thailand again, and it became. When Thailand became very big. You know, not other countries as much. There has been a decline overall in most places.
The great thing is that the other product we have, Gofen, Loris, Loratadine, Zyrine, all of them are doing very well, and they have held up very well. There are a lot of products are non-COVID product. Mega has a lot of non-COVID products, you know. We have a huge range for sleep and cough and cold and all the other things. They are not going away. And probiotics. They are healthy. Where one part of it is declined, the other parts are growing. The drug business has started to grow again because hospitals are open, people are going back to the hospital, doctor surgeries are coming back. A lot of product that has slowed down and clinics had closed down in 2021, 22 are seeing an upward trend now.
The hospital business is seeing an upward. I think it's a mixed bag. Good thing for us, we have a good balance. We have drugs, we have over-the-counter drugs, we have vitamin minerals, we have herbal medicine, we have medical nutrition, we have product that are sold for diabetes, product that are sold for eye health, product which are not related to COVID, all of them. A balanced portfolio impact is there, but it's there and it can be seen, but at the same time other things are growing. That's where we are coming from. When we said we were not assuming. If we have a 100% COVID product, we would definitely have to project decline. We are seeing that if things change, it could be in the second half, things are.
All the other things start to change. We could still see flatter or a single digit, low single digit growth. We are only saying we are gonna be flat and plus, between plus/minus single digit. That's our projection. We are still hoping that things look that way. As we get more information in the second quarter, we will present to you again, because that's where our details are coming from, looking at the results that we see in our in-depth.
Thank you.
Hi. Hello.
Hello.
Yeah, yeah. Hi. I'm Narin from KKPS. I have just a few questions.
Yes, go ahead.
Yeah.
Please. Yeah.
First, on the gross profit margin for distributions business. You said that the gross margin is normalized at 19.9% at the first quarter, right? If you look at the history, you run distribution margin like 18%. Should we assume that 19.9% or something like that is a new normalized-
Yes
Margin? How come, you know, the distribution margin improve a lot given the decelerating, Myanmar business?
I think you should stick to 18% to 18.5%. I think sometimes the product mix, maybe the mix in the first quarter is largely pharma-
Mm-hmm.
Less of consumer, you know. It can happen, you know, because the consumer business is a little bit more effective with licenses and other things like foreign exchange, things also add up, right? I think the correction already happened where one of our consumer business also left. There's probably a little bit of a mix change, which is lower margin that's, like, drop off and the higher margin still remain. Also in distribution, we also provide services, right? When we say margin, there's also different kind of services. Some are marketing services, full agency services. There'll be a bit of a difference. Generally, I think 18%-18.5% is a good number to take, but I don't know.
It's probably in that range. It hasn't gone. I mean, if you look at so many years, it hasn't really changed very much.
Yes.
Has it? This may be a bit more exception you think first quarter?
Yes. Yes. Normally, generally, last year also we had 18.1 normalized.
18.1 normalized. Yeah. 18-18.5, I think is our number.
Okay. Could you please share the percentage of like, medicine, sales contributions versus like complementary? The sales breakdown.
I think overall. Our expenses is about 40%.
Mm-hmm.
The supplement overall complementary medicine is called medicinal supplements are about 60%.
Mm-hmm.
In that we say immunity contributes about 20%-30% in that range, something like that. I think that's the general guidance. It may be plus minus 2%-3%. It's not exactly the same every quarter, but that's the range. I think over time, I believe that the, with the drug pipeline being bigger and the drug industry is anyway bigger, it's 10 times bigger than the supplement business if you look at it worldwide. I think our drug business should become a larger proportion of our, of business. It probably edges higher in the next two to three years to two years to about 50%. That's probably the, by looking at the number of products and the size of the market that we are doing, that's what we think will happen.
It's a good balance of over-the-counter drugs, what we call over-the-counter OTC or self-medication. Also in our consumer health, we also have both over-the-counter drug. We have cough, we have cold, we have pain, we have allergy, we have gut health, and we have supplements and all these things. It's a mixture. Even over the counter we have some drugs, pure medicine, right?
Please remind me on the gross margin for drug and supplementary?
Very, very similar. I think the thing was you had a good first quarter, that's what Manoj was saying. We had about 69 point something% because of low SG&A and high production. First quarter was huge, we were showing a 69%. Generally, we sit around 64%-65% in that range. Average between the whole Mega We Care branded business average is around somewhere there. I think it's in the old days was 62%-64%. I think that was the range. It's a little bit better now. Bit impact of the foreign exchange was there. Another impact was high production was there, product mix also was there. Low SG&A as well, right?
Mm-hmm.
The first quarter looked very good. The whole year we ended with what? 64.9 or 65 point-
Last year was 67%.
Average.
Generally-
Year before?
Year before was around 65 something.
64%-65% we did. I mean, if you look at 2022, 2021 also. Prior to that was 63%, 62.9%. COVID time we did a little bit better because of higher production. As production rates go up, I mean, your absorption of basic, I mean, operating expenses get spread out, that also reduces that a little bit. It has to do with higher outputs, number one. Number two, also to do with some foreign exchange. Number three, also to do with product mix. All these three things have some impact, but generally it is there, 64%-65% kind.
Okay. My last question for now is regarding to your business plan. You said that in 2023, this is quite a flat year, right? You can, I mean, you mean like, it's slightly declined, it's possible. My question is that what is the key risk, the further key risk to your business plan for this year?
Key? Sorry, the key?
The risk. The risk.
Key risk.
Yeah.
Key risk is no. The key risk is only the risk is already gone, COVID. When there's panic, people buy in panic, right? People buy more.
Okay.
I think that probably is over. I, to my mind, that panic buying is over. The only key risk now lies with competitors. I think a lot of people came into this business thinking that, wow, wellness industry is huge. COVID, everybody give them more Vitamin C and more Vitamin C and more Vitamin C, and that's what they were doing. Make everything to do with health. Everybody is into wellness, you name it.
Mm-hmm.
Everybody's launched something which is a drink, chewing gum, chewable candy, everything has. I think that's the challenge, but I think we are not as much involved in that area because our products are largely medicines. They contain the right dose, they're high strength. We still have a very strong base. We will come back to a higher base, and we will have to live with it. We have to create all these new product that we are building. Mega has a new huge pipeline of drugs, of over-the-counter drugs and of medicinal supplements. Like you see, we launched Eugica, Eye Relief . Many things we have, we have in our pipeline. AB Pro, Normagut. We are not only focusing on just trying to create magic tonight for today because there is this is the flavor of the month.
We have been doing this for the last 25, 30 years. We are going to do it for the next 30 years and build a credible business of products that work. I mean, there is always a risk, but the risk is, can only be mitigated by remaining focused and becoming very customer-centric and using products that work, products that have a scientific basis. We are pursuing that path diligently, honestly, and building a brand that is effective, that is credible, and that you believe in and that you also use. I use it every day myself because I believe it. I believe in what we make and our people who use this. I think that's where the differentiation lies. We need to work on it.
I think we need to continue, not think short term, not think magic, but think long term and think solution, think cures, and think helping in people where they have deficiencies. I think that direction is not changed.
Mm-hmm.
That's my view, and that's our view across the country. Wherever we are doing it well, we see regular products that don't drop. Products are continuing, people are buying. We can't help that panic situation because that happened for that period, right? That has to come down and things will start to go up. It's only for a small part of our product range. We never sold Remdesivir. We never sold Remdesivir. We never sold all the products that became drugs for only Covid. We don't have them. We don't have an impact. A lot of companies sell a lot of all the other drugs. Drugs also for Covid only. We didn't sell vaccines. We didn't sell masks. We don't have masks. We don't have vaccines. We don't have all this.
That has no impact on our business. Only supplement. Which is good because people got to know them and their consumption levels are probably higher than what they used to be in 2019, right?
Mm-hmm.
At least it's a new, it's a newer base. From there we have to develop and grow it further. Yes, I'm sorry we can't keep maintain that level because from THB 1.2 billion-THB 2.2 billion is not a joke in three years. I'm sure we are going to be there and build on top of it, right? That's the great thing. That's a good thing also, right?
Yes. Understand. Actually, we actually don't know what. I mean, what is the normalized consumer behavior after COVID demand fading.
I mean, I can tell you that if we used to sell X amount, $100 of vitamin C and it became $200, it's still, i f it drops, it drops to $150. It's not become back to 100. The good thing is before Covid, we were already selling. We were number one or number two in vitamin C in this country, right? It was nothing, i t had nothing to do with Covid at all. It was zero Covid.
Mm-hmm.
After COVID it may became double, but it's not become back to zero. It is higher than what it used to be. It's a new base.
Okay. Understand.
Thank you.
We have Harry showing his hand. Harry, may we request you to raise your question, please.
Hi. Can you hear me okay?
Yeah, we can hear you, Harry.
Great. This is Harry from UOB Asset Management. Thanks very much for the call. I just wonder, the first question was just to clarify, when you said, out of the branded segment, 60% is supplements. Were you saying that sort of half of that had some sort of COVID exposure, like being sort of supplements and Vitamin C and things like that or?
No. 30% of 60%, I would say.
Okay. Okay.
We have cold, cough, we have eye health, we have pro-body, we have gut health. We have a range of supplements that are quite a large portfolio. There is vitamin C makes up a large part. I mean, fish oil is not used for Covid, people may think they use it. There are a lot of other products. We have protein powders, we have medical nutrition, Glucomil. We have a whole range if you look at Mega's portfolio. There is a part of the portfolio that is very Covid oriented. There's others. Cold, cough is normal. If you have a good season of cold, cough, if there's a lot of weather changes, cough doesn't go away. We have Neocodion, we have Nucal, we have Musi.
I think some was Covid related, some are not Covid. Some have little impact on Covid, some have more impact with Covid. I think the Covid part of the business from the peak has dropped down, but it still holds on. It still holds on. It's higher than the original base in 2019. That's where we are coming from.
Got it. Okay. Then in the branded side, like now the impact of COVID is behind us, like, what sort of rate do you expect this business to grow on a yearly basis? If you can just remind us, like, what are the component parts of that growth? How much is coming from, you know, new countries? How much is coming from new products? How much is coming from sort of like for like existing products?
I mean, 40% of our drug business is growing, and it's going to become 50%, so in the next two to three years. There's growth there. With new pipeline, new drugs coming in, we see higher growth in our drug business. Number two. Out of the 60% of consumer health, 10%-12% also comes out of over-the-counter drugs, we call. That is also seeing growth and will continue to grow in many markets we are in. The remaining 48% of our supplement business is, will depend on us because there are a lot of other new launches on sleep, on medical nutrition, on cold and cough, and on gut health. We are working on that, and we should still see growth in those segments relative to 2019, 2020, 2021, but not on the COVID.
You will see a decline, but if you normalize the start, we'll still see 5%-7% growth in that market as well. The challenge there only is when you see the reduction happening over what was in 2023 and 2022, and then we see it was growing at a slower rate. Yes. If we start with 22 as a base, it's probably flat and we'll have a slower rate. If you look at 19 as a base, it's still growing at 5%-7% because we are investing in a lot of other products, another lot of other pipelines. That's the other part. When new products always, as we have also informed you, new products don't create magic in one year. By the time you launch, you get into tenders in the drug. It's a one, two, three-year cycle.
From the third year onwards, they start to become meaningful. We also had shown earlier that new product contribution 5%-8%.
Three.
Three to-
3% after.
3% after 2-3 years. That is what they are contributing. Every time we are adding every three years, when we launch, you have a 3%-5% come from new products, and the remaining 3%, 5% come from existing products which are already there.
If we say 7% from 2019 levels, that takes us to about, you know, THB 5.8 billion, which is, you know, would be quite low, like if we're thinking about that for 2023 and, you know, given that you've done about THB 2 billion in the 1st quarter.
Yeah. We are only projecting to make THB 2.4 billion bottom line in 2025. We were already at THB 2.2 billion. If it remains flat or goes down by 3%-4%, we are still saying that in the next two years' time we should be able to deliver that THB 2.4 billion, THB 2.3 billion-THB 2.4 billion. If you look at our profits in 2019, that we should be able to deliver that THB 2.4 billion approximately in bottom line.
Got it.
We say growth at 5%-7% growth using 19 numbers. 5%-7%, we are talking about branded business. We don't take the distribution business growth. We only talk about branding.
Okay. You're talking about a, you know, year-over-year, a CAGR between, from 2019 to 2023 of 5%-7%?
Yeah. I'm saying even till 2025. On a normal basis, if there were no COVID, we're only projecting 5-7% CAGR, right? Over the next five years. Based on that, we were also projecting approximately a bottom line growth if we ended up with that, not doubling the sale, but we are getting somewhere between 60-70% growth from 2019, that we would double our bottom line. Something like that.
Okay.
I think when we are projecting, we said we'll double our bottom line, but I don't think we were doubling our top line.
Correct. Only bottom line.
Doubling, we were about 80% or 70-
Yeah.
80% in terms of top line. The impact on the bottom line is higher with the top line growing, that is the basis. A lot of other things don't change. What our projection was based on 7%, 8% over the five-year period on a CAGR basis, 60%, 70% growth, top line somewhere there, and bottom line doubling from THB 1,138. What was it? 11 -
1138.
11?
1138.
1,138. 1,138 into two. That was THB 2.3 billion, we are saying THB 2.3 billion-THB 2.4 billion. That was our projection.
Okay. Do you see much room to exceed this, like, at this point, you know, based on what you're seeing in the market?
Looking at our new base, there is a good sign, I don't want to go and jump overboard and try to give you all these. I think we should look at this quarter two and quarter three, and a lot of these pipeline coming because we are seeing good traction in Indonesia. We are happy and investing in Vietnam. We also see a lot of brands being launched in countries. Give us a little bit of time to be honest with you and be truthful what is happening honestly. The idea is we internally, we are challenging ourselves to do a lot more, but we believe that 2.4. This thing is very, very highly likely. Yeah. Let me put it that way. I won't try to.
Sure.
Take you in the wrong direction, but.
Got it. My final question was just on, with regards to Myanmar. Is there any branded sales, you know, from the Mega We Care business in Myanmar?
Yes, Myanmar is also, we have a large, a very significant branded business there. Also very good branded partners who are sticking and also investing in Myanmar. That's the big thing. The big players in the pharma business are still committed to Myanmar. They are staying there. They're investing there. They are working with us, and we are fortunate to be partners with them. This is our great honor that we are working along with them. That's the big. That's the good sign. Let's see how we have to hang on, our team is there, we continue to believe that if, given some time, if things turn around, we are, we are there.
We were always ready, and that had a great hope for us in the long run, but some things are not in our hands, and we have to accept fortune as well. Having said that, we are still maintaining, in spite of the situation in Myanmar, our results are still holding up.
Okay. and how big is that business? Should we expect, b ecause of the troubles in Myanmar, should we expect any negative implication?
The distribution business already I think they are projected is going to be lower. We've already given that 12% lower. We've already projected that the distribution business is going to have an impact 12%.
Yeah. I mean on the branded side.
Branded side is stable. Again, because it's coming flat. Some other countries will go, but Myanmar may be flat or slightly lower, as I said. May.
Okay.
It's had an impact, yeah.
Okay. Okay.
Not a major impact, yeah.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Close to 3:45 P.M. Some more time or? It's 3:00 P.M., 4:00 P.M. clock.
Yeah. We just.
There are no more questions.
Any further questions from anyone?
I have 1 more question. I forgot to ask about the sales Q to date, like in April and month to date. Could you please share, give me a color on?
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you.
I'll be banned from talking to you from now onwards, you know, if the SEC finds out. I can't say very much, but things are all right. April anyway is a slower month because of Songkran and Songkran and Cambodia having all festivals. It's not the biggest month for us anyway. but. May is not over yet. May is just 15th of May. I'm sorry I can't tell you very much, but. It's not a good indicator. Let's wait till June. Signs are still good. Mega will continue to build on the business and the platform we have. I'm very confident that we'll deliver on what we are promising you.
Give us till June, and we'll talk to you again in August with more clarity. Yeah. I'm sorry I can't say much more. I'm not in a position to go beyond this. I'm sorry. Sorry about that.
Harry.
Me, Harry. Yeah, Harry, you had your hands up. You want another question? Please, man.
Yeah. Thank you. I just have another question. First one related to the branded side that you mentioned before that the, you know, now COVID's kind of hopefully behind us, that the risk there is in competition. Could you speak a bit about that? Because you mentioned, I know that a lot of people were going into manufacturing vitamins and, you know, trying to use that opportunity. Could you just talk about now, like, what the competitive landscape looks like and, you know, possibly where you're seeing pressure on which type of products and which ones are, you know, where you have a significant leader and less worried?
I think in any environment, when everything was not good, everybody saw wellness as an opportunity from making anything, you know, supplements, herbals, anything that can be packaged and sold for COVID and can help you was the flavor of the year, the month, whether it's a drink or whether it's capsules or. As a food. Food is easier. Three months, six months, you can get approvals, you can launch, you can. From every movie star to every star has a brand of his own. They all have their own end, right? I think to sustain something on a very long-term basis, you have to continue doing it. I don't think. What I meant is that they were there, but how many of them will survive is something to be seen.
Committed companies who are doing this for a long time are going to stay. I'm sure there are always new entrants who have a plan, and there are some good ones will also enter. There are market dynamics that are going to also change, which we are seeing anyway. I mean, Blackmores just got sold to Kirin. They are in the process of doing that, so we don't know what's going to happen with them. There are certain companies here also that have been in business. Some have not done very well. Some are consolidating their businesses, which have also taken different turns. Some have been bought out by private equity, and they are relooking at their positioning.
Private stores had launched their own brands, and some have given them up because they don't seem to make sense because the market isn't that large. I think it's. There'll be some cleaning up in the process, and there'll be people who will specialize and come up. It's interesting. It's still all kinds of players in multi-level, herbs, local herbs, foreign companies trying to come in and sell. Many have closed and left as well. Many have tried and left as well. We cannot discount the strength of competition.
What I was trying to say was sometime when people came in for a quick round and they all carried, when this happened, like when the HIV came to Thailand or wherever it came, gloves became so big, everybody put glove factories. 100 factories were set up. After HIV was over and everybody had glove prices dropped from $100 to $7 20 dollars. Out of 100 factories, 90 closed down, you know. The ones who were in the business for a long, long, long time and had the energy to stay, stayed. Did, and probably did well even now in this round. I think end of the day they'll be cleaning up and when cleaning up happens, the good and the long-term thinkers with investment will probably stay on, and Mega is going to stay on.
I'm not as concerned, but in the short run, you have when you carry stocks, what do you do? You discount, you do promotions, you want to clear excess stocks you have. Everybody does that. Everybody believed that COVID is never going to go away, so people will continue to eat vitamin C as much as they were eating during COVID. Doesn't happen that way. I think when people got used to it and COVID went away, the fears went away. Lot of people who were short-term went down, but a lot of the people who were taking vitamin C anyway continued to take it. Our customer base is largely from those who were already taking them and who believe in supplements or who were taking product because they believed in Mega. Yes, there will be. There are short-term.
There will be some short-term pressures on some areas where people carry stocks. But in the long run, I think, people doing this, with a purpose, with a belief and a commitment are going to stay. Mega has time and again, we have not left. We've been in this business for now since 1986. I came, we started here, and we have three plants. We have TGA approval, we have German approval. I think, we are here to stay, man. This is only something that I was telling you that this is happening in the environment. This is a factor.
Mm-hmm.
It's a factor.
Yeah, yeah.
With that, these things will happen. I mean, they come and go. Even before we had people say, "Oh, great supplement market, 10 companies launch." A lot of them also went away and they stopped because they couldn't break the code or they couldn't succeed here. You need to hang on and to build something, you need to really find a place that you are good at. I'm sure there are. I'm not saying that there are many good companies who will also stay and succeed and do something that we don't do, and they'll be much better than us. I respect competition, and I believe that there are many good players. Similarly, we are also a good player in our area, and we will continue to do what we are doing.
That's why we believe that we will succeed and we will continue to grow.
Very good. Okay. The final question was just understanding about the normalization in SG&A for the adjusted net profit. Could you help me, like how much is that adjustment?
THB 64 million.
That THB 64 million is adjusted because I think it is 20. I t was at THB 25.5 , whereas this quarter it is THB 27 .
Six.
THB 27.6. The difference is 2.1%.
Okay.
That's been normalized. That's THB 453 reported versus five. How much?
THB 540
THB 540 is adjusted. THB 64 if you add back and then FX, foreign exchange you add back.
Yeah. Okay. That's very helpful. Thank you very much. Good luck.
Thank you. Any more questions, ladies and gentlemen? We are free and open to ask, answer a few more before we close. It's 3:54 P.M. If not, I would like to thank all of you and thank you for the patience, thank you for the support, thank you for the belief. We'll continue to work hard to build a good, strong, reliable and what we call a stable company that delivers quarter to quarter. Not only quarter to quarter, but on a long-term basis, things that we are here for and building a good brand across the region. Once again, thank you. Have a good day. Have a good weekend. Have a good week, and we'll see you again next quarter. Thank you.