The pharmaceutical group Reig Jofre is going to expand its industrial capacity at its factory in Malmö (Sweden), in which it will invest three million euros to incorporate a sixth production line, and with the start-up of its factory in Barcelona, already fully operational after the investment of 40 million euros made in the last three years.
Reig Jofre operates in Sweden with its subsidiary Bioglan, which in Malmö manufactures semi-solid products (such as creams and ointments) for the group's dermatology area but also for third parties. Thus, the new production line will allow Reig to expand the manufacture of a new drug against advanced Parkinson's disease, an intestinal gene, which it produces for the German laboratory Stada. Reig Jofre has 103 people in Sweden and the Malmö production contributes 12.5% of the group's income.
The group led by Ignasi Biosca explained to the CNMV that the vector of its growth in the coming months will be the Barcelona plant. This year the agreement that it signed with Janssen, which reserved part of its capacity to manufacture its vaccine against covid, has ended, and the company has begun to manufacture its own products there, and will also open it to other groups, as it anticipated before the pandemic. Reig expects the factory to be at full capacity from 2024.
The pharmaceutical company reached 132 million revenues in the first half, 14% more than last year and its sales record thanks to the recovery of the global antibiotic market, as well as other medicines for hospital use: with the end of social distancing and masks, infections have returned, and hospitals have resumed their surgical activity.
In the semester, the group earned 3.6 million euros, 1.5% more than in the previous year and the operating profit or ebitda grew by 6%, to 14.2 million euros, which also represents a record six-month result.
Its manufacturing division, focused on producing injectable products in Barcelona and antibiotics in Toledo, contributes 48% of sales and also led the growth in income, with an increase of 21%. The area of self-consumption of health, where it operates with the Forté Pharma brand and with non-prescription drugs, grew by 18% and already contributes 24% of sales.
In prescription medicines, in which it is strong in dermatology and osteoarticular ailments, it grew by 2% and the group plans to strengthen its internationalization, creating subsidiaries with its own visit networks, as it has already done in Poland.
