Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited (AIP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Adcock Ingram Group Annual Results for the Year ended 30 June 2025. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Andy Hall, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Irene. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Adcock Ingram's results webcast for the financial year ended 30 June 2025. Thanks for taking the time to show interest in our company, and we'll do our usual procedure. I'll provide an overview of the company's business and operational performance. And then our CFO, Dorette Neethling, will provide a detailed analysis of the financial results. We'll be happy to take questions at the end of the presentation. We've seen a marked improvement in trading and financial performance in the second half of the financial year. This was a nice recovery for us underpinned by strong demand, improved operational performance, particularly at our Clayville factory and disciplined cost management from our operating divisions. So for the year under review, turnover increased by 1% to ZAR 9.8 billion. In the first half of the financial year, our Consumer division experienced very weak demand in the independent wholesale channel, which primarily services the lower LSMs. And in addition, in that first half, some of the large pharmaceutical wholesalers reduced their inventory holdings towards the end of the calendar year. The second half of the year, however, reflected strong demand for our winter basket. We saw an excellent recovery in the independent wholesale and informal sector channels where we did a direct distributor model and most pharmacy wholesaler buying patterns normalized during the period. At the gross margin level, we were a little bit softer than the prior year. It came in at 33% from 33.4% in the previous year. And this is really a consequence of a less favorable sales mix and then the lower production levels at our Wadeville facility resulted in significant under recoveries at that plant. Those 2 pressures were partially offset by favorable exchange rate. So the rand was kind to us in this period. We had some decent selling price increases, which averaged out at about 4% and the demand for the winter basket and analgesics in the second half improved the mix in the last 6 months. Our operating expenses, which include our annual salary increases, increased by just 2%. So we had another year of very good operating expense control. And that all resulted in a full year decline of 4% in trading profit to ZAR 1.18 billion, a pretty exceptional recovery from the 17% decline that we reported at the half year. Headline earnings per share increased by 1.5% and the HEPS improvement relative to trading profit really was supported by the solid contributions from our joint ventures, both of which did very well, and the accretive impact of the share repurchase we did at the end of the previous financial year. I'll just chat quickly about the regulatory environment. We don't have a slide on it, but I'll just sort of update you on where we're at. On codeine-containing medicines, we've submitted all our updated pediatric safety labeling to SAHPRA in January 2025. So all of our packaging is now in line with SAHPRA's revised requirements. There have been no further regulatory developments affecting codeine other than the contraindication, which are the updates that we had done in January. Following developments from the U.S. FDA, SAHPRA requested a risk-benefit assessment for orally administered phenylephrine products due to concerns that the FDA has around efficacy of phenylephrine when administered orally. The FDA indicated that it has no concerns around safety on phenylephrine. So Adcock Ingram and other companies that market oral phenylephrine-containing products have been granted an extension until 15th November 2025 to submit the required information, and we're in the process of doing that. On the SEP front, the Pharmaceutical Task Group, which represents each of the industry bodies in South Africa has submitted its proposal for the 2026 Single Exit Price adjustment to the pricing committee. And the PTG has recommended that CPI be used as the factor for the Single Exit Price increase going forward. Our distribution operations are still done in partnership with RTT, and we saw an impressive on-time delivery rate exceeding 99% in the current year and particularly in the last quarter, those distribution operations were stretched a bit, but we saw very good service levels from them. Regulatory compliance is becoming as important in distribution operations as it is in manufacturing or anywhere else in the business. We've made a substantial investment of over ZAR 40 million in humidity and temperature control at our Durban and Midrand facilities recently, which further enhances the reliability and quality of our logistics network. I'll move on now just to a quick overview of the 4 divisions. Our Consumer division, which competes in healthcare, personal care and home care, marketing products with -- that are leaders in analgesia, energy, dermatology, sun care, shoe care and home care had a very good performance this year, particularly across the personal care and home care ranges. During the second half of the year, the division launched an Epi-max Ultra line extension. They also added a value-added Dermopal pack, Dermopal being a new product for us this year, which sold in excess of ZAR 60 million and have also launched Cepacol Effervescent tablets into the market. Epi-max really is the standout performer in this part of the business for the year. Epi-max sales, in fact, exceeded ZAR 350 million. GynaGuard also doing very well, grew by 27%. And then Plush, which is our home care range as well as Island Tribe, one of our sun care products grew in double digits. So the move to personal care and home care products paying off in this part of the business. There was a small contraction in the gross margin here, driven by the slightly softer demand we had for Panado, Panado being the biggest product in this part of the business, but effective cost management in the division supported a pleasing 6% increase in trading profit to ZAR 384 million. The H2 performance here really does demonstrate the equity of the division's brands when driven by effective marketing and sales strategies. Moving on to our Over The Counter business. This division holds market leadership positions in pain, coughs and colds and flu, digestive and allergy therapeutic categories through the pharmacy channel in South Africa. In Schedule 1 and 2, this division is the market leader. It has a market share of about 20% and a volume share of almost 30%. Revenue for the full year ended in line with 2024, a notable improvement again from the 4% decline, which we reported at the half year. This improvement was supported by an early flu season. I'm sure all of you experienced the difficulties we had with cold and flu in April and May in South Africa. But of course, this positively impacts our winter basket. And in addition, this division, which had some supply chain challenges in the first half, rectified all of those and also normalized the buying patterns amongst our pharmacy wholesale customers. There was a small gross margin improvement here, driven by the improvement in the exchange rate as well as a favorable sales mix with those winter products selling well and very good progress at the Clayville facility. Clayville facility having introduced some waste reduction, some process optimization and much more effective use of their workforce capability. So very happy with the performance there. That facility, just as a reminder, does oral high-volume liquid production. It's renewed its GMP certification with SAHPRA in the year after we had an audit there. So we have a new 5-year manufacturing license for that facility. The sterile eye drop facility at Clayville also increased its output again in the current year. So that performing nicely for us. The trading profit for the OTC division ultimately increased by 5% to ZAR 404 million. Our Prescription division markets a portfolio of branded and generic medicines. It also has a range of specialized skin care products and some ophthalmology equipment. A lot of these products being marketed and sold on behalf of our multinational partners. Total revenue in the business for the year was down 3%, really impacted by the destocking that we saw in the pharmaceutical wholesale channel in the second quarter, which mainly impacted at the time our analgesic and generics portfolios. The gross margin was weaker here. The real problem being the reduced throughput that we have at the Wadeville facility and a slightly less favorable sales mix. The Wadeville factory did experience a significant decline in production volumes during the year. We focused on reducing operating expenses at that factory, but a large proportion of the costs are fixed, so very difficult to get it down to a sufficient number. But we have some operational streamlining efforts that are underway at the factory and hoping to improve recoveries in the 2026 financial year. Trading profit in the Prescription division was down by 25% year-on-year to ZAR 265 million, a financial performance that obviously is well below our expectations, but we do recognize a significant recovery from the 52% decline that we reported at the half year. So good progress made in the second half of the year in that business. You will recall that at the interim period, we mentioned the Competition Commission had approved Adcock Ingram's acquisition of the Lundbeck business in the Southern African region. So we've now got the full Lundbeck portfolio on board, and we have integrated that business into our operation. Lundbeck is a global leader in central nervous system pharmaceuticals. So that will strengthen our presence in the CNS therapeutic area. We've also entered into a commercial agreement with GSK South Africa to commercialize some of their vaccines. The partnership covers a pipeline of vaccines expected to be introduced over the coming years. The first one we actually will be launching next month. It's a product called Bexsero for the prevention of meningitis B. And then we intend to bring the Shingrix vaccine, which is for the prevention of shingles in adults to market in the fourth quarter of the 2026 financial year. There were still some good product launches in the Prescription division during the year. And in aggregate, the new products contributed over ZAR 60 million to the top line. Lastly, our Hospital division, which is the leading manufacturer and supplier of critical care and hospital products in South Africa. This division produces more than 90% of the country's life-saving large volume intravenous fluids in the public sector, and we estimate about 60% of those fluids in the private sector. The medicine delivery portfolio in which these fluids are housed grew by 6%. You will recall we had the state tender award in October 2023. So we're still benefiting from that. Renal products here grew by 8% with increased demand from our biggest customer, National Renal Care, which, of course, is our joint venture with Netcare. And then we are also seeing sales from some of the other private sector networks such as life. The blood business at the Hospital division comprises mainly of blood collection products and also has some specialized products for blood diseases. This declined due to the repatriation to a multinational company of a product called FEIBA, which is used for the treatment of hemophilia. However, we did onboard a wound care and ostomy portfolio from our global multinational partner, Convatec, and that contributed about ZAR 60 million to sales during the year. So that made up for the loss of FEIBA at the top line, but not at the gross margin. The Aeroton facility continues to operate at high utilization levels, currently exceeding 90% of capacity and remains the primary manufacturing site for intravenous fluids, renal dialysis solution and blood collection bags in South Africa. The volume output at this factory increased by 12% year-on-year. Despite this good performance, the aging infrastructure, particularly in the small volume injectables and sterilization areas presents a growing risk to output stability at that factory. We have several projects underway to support ongoing regulatory compliance and to ensure that we have supply continuity. Nonetheless, additional accelerated infrastructure investment is going to be critical to strengthen long-term operational resilience at that factory. The gross margin for this part of the business ended a little bit below the prior year, and that's really a question of the mix. As we'd mentioned earlier, losing FEIBA and picking up some of the wound care and ostomy products has adversely affected the margin there. We had a decline consequently in trading profit of 2% to ZAR 125 million in this part of the business. We had mentioned at interim that we've signed a 10-year supply and distribution agreement with Medline. Medline is an international company that has a broad hospital offering, including incontinence, wound care and skin care products, and this will complement our Convatec range. In fact, we launched the Medline Wound Care range earlier this month. Just looking at our ESG journey, we've introduced some innovative waste management initiatives, which have reduced our landfill waste to now just 6% of our total waste at Adcock Ingram. These initiatives include on-site waste sorting, pallet recycling and repurposing of thermal covers into blankets. Our long-term ambition here by 2030 is to reduce our landfill waste to below 4% of our total waste. To address our transition to renewable energy, we now have solar installations at 7 of our sites in -- at Adcock Ingram. This year, they contributed 7% of our total power consumption. If we include the electricity that we've generated from our on-site generators, which we have at every site, we generated almost 10% of our own electricity. Our target for renewable energy use by 2030 is 16%. Despite increased production, particularly at Aeroton, as I've mentioned this year, we've also reduced our water usage that came down by 2% year-on-year. And at the same time, we've made significant investments in our water storage capacity at our distribution centers and our factories. That now exceeds 6 million liters, and we will be increasing that again in the current year. At the heart of our values lies a strong dedication to making a positive difference in our communities that border where we operate. Our ongoing investment in corporate social responsibility programs is reflected in a range of high-impact projects, one of which was the installation of a photovoltaic solar system at a secondary school in the rural Northwest. In addition, we're actively involved in the Food Garden for Africa initiative at a primary school here in Gauteng, which is close to Clayville where -- our Clayville factory. We've installed the garden there that supports the school's nutrition program. It generates income there to fund educational activities and provide sustainable food supply for many vulnerable children. On the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment front, we were again rated Level 1 in November 2024. So that accreditation remains valid until November of this year 2025. And we have an independent verification agency again busy with our 2025 assessment. That concludes my broad overview. I'll now ask Dorette to handle the detailed financials.

Thank you, Andy, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Before I get into the details of the financials, just a reminder that we've also published our consolidated annual financial statements. These are already available on our website, thanks to a tremendous effort from the finance team. And this investor presentation will also be available later today. So if I turn to the income statement, revenue of ZAR 9.8 billion ended ZAR 117 million above the prior year. In the first half of the financial year, demand was weak, as we've explained before, in the independent wholesale channel. And in the second quarter, pharmaceutical wholesalers and corporate pharmacies reduced their stock levels. The second half of the year reflected an excellent recovery with half 2 sales exceeding those of half 1 by 7%, supported by the demand for our winter basket, a well-executed informal sector strategy and the normalized buying patterns from our pharmacy wholesalers. Organic volumes declined by 3.1%, but it was offset by an average price realization of 4.3%. Gross profit of ZAR 3.2 billion is therefore just ahead of the prior year. The gross margin declined marginally by 40 basis points to 33%, and Andy has spoken through the negative impacts of the sales mix as well as the factory recoveries, which were lower at Wadeville. And he also mentioned to the benefit of the gross margin was our SEP increase as well as the increased demand for the winter basket. The details of the material foreign currencies bought during the financial year are as follows: we've bought USD 71.5 million at an average rate of ZAR 18.31 which represents a 2.7% strengthening relative to the prior year, which was at ZAR 18.82. And we also bought EUR 57.6 million at an average rate of ZAR 20.60, which represents a 1.6% strengthening compared to the prior year, which was at ZAR 20.39. Approximately 53% of FECs are in euro and 47% in U.S. dollar. The overall decrease or improvement in the rand, if you compare the 2025 financial year with the 2024 financial year in the average FEC exchange rate weighted on actual settlements in the year was 2.2%. Operating expenses of just over ZAR 2 billion increased by ZAR 47 million, well below inflationary levels and include annual salary increases. Trading profit for the year of ZAR 1.18 billion ended ZAR 46 million or 3.7% below the prior year, reflecting a highly commendable recovery from the almost 17% decline we reported earlier this year. The half 2 trading profit was 30% better than that of half 1. Non-trading expenses of ZAR 108 million consist of share-based expenses of ZAR 38 million, impairments of intangible assets related to brands, which are not individually material and have been discontinued, amounting to ZAR 60 million, a fair value adjustment of ZAR 3 million on a long-term receivable and corporate activity costs of ZAR 7 million. Operating profit of ZAR 1.1 billion ended 1.1% above the prior year. Equity accounted earnings from joint ventures, which arise from National Renal Care, our JV with Netcare and Adcock Ingram Limited in India, our JV with Medreich, Meiji are ZAR 173 million, 21% above the prior year. If you recall, the India JV performance in the prior year was adversely impacted by the delay in receiving a permit to import codeine phosphate into India. We are happy to report that both these joint ventures have seen increased volumes. Net finance costs of ZAR 110 million were incurred during the year, including IFRS 16 costs of ZAR 24 million. The increase is a consequent to higher net debt in relation to the prior year following the share buyback program at the end of the previous financial year, the acquisition of Dermopal in July 2024 and on average, higher levels of working capital. The effective tax rate adjusted for equity accounted earnings is 29.2% with nondeductible expenditure causing the increase over the statutory rate. Headline earnings for the year amounted to ZAR 918 million, below the comparative year, but that translated to headline earnings per share of ZAR 625.6, which was 1.5% above the comparative year. Half-on-half, our HEPS improved by 36%. If I turn to the balance sheet, looking at non-current assets. Within the non-current assets, we had depreciation amounting to ZAR 203 million, which was ZAR 12 million higher than the prior year, and it also includes depreciation of ZAR 44 million on the right-of-use assets capitalized in terms of IFRS 16. Intangible assets, including goodwill, having a carrying value of ZAR 1.16 billion and comprised of generic, consumer and OTC trademarks and licensing agreements and include, amongst others, Epi-max, Plush and the Dermopal brand acquired at the start of the financial year. Amortization in the year amounted to ZAR 9.5 million. An impairment of ZAR 60 million was recognized as part of our ongoing portfolio optimization strategy as indicated earlier. Other financial assets of ZAR 10 million relate to the capital contribution made to the Tiger Brands Black Managers' Trust, which has reduced as options were exercised during the year. Historically, you will remember that, that financial assets also included an investment in group risk holdings, which we have disposed of in the current year. The investments in joint ventures of ZAR 704 million are the cost and subsequent equity accounted earnings after dividends of the 2 joint ventures adjusted for translation differences in the case of the Indian JV, the latter comprising 61% of that value. If we turn to the working capital, inventory of ZAR 2.8 billion, which is stated at the lower of cost and net realizable value increased by ZAR 271 million since June last year due to the recent onboarding of new multinational marketing and distribution agreements. Days in inventory are 144 days. Trade accounts receivable of ZAR 2.1 billion are shown net of an expected credit loss provision of only ZAR 32 million, of which 35% relates to debt of the public sector. 94% of trade receivables are due within the terms of 60 days and 14% of trade receivables, so almost ZAR 300 million relate to debt from government with 57% due within 60 days. The days in receivables remained constant at 54 days, and the group ended the year with a favorable cash balance of ZAR 104 million, and we have access to our working capital facilities of ZAR 1.75 billion, a tremendous effort from our credit control team in the last month of the financial year with regards to collections. If we look at the bottom part of the balance sheet, the group has shareholders' funds of ZAR 5.8 billion at the end of June. There was a decrease of ZAR 24 million in the non-distributable reserves since June 2024, which relates to decreases in the foreign currency translation reserve of ZAR 29 million and a decrease of ZAR 24 million in the share-based payment reserve. This was partially offset by increases in the cash flow hedge accounting reserve amounting to ZAR 29 million and the PRMA revaluation reserve increased by 1%. The only liabilities outside of accounts payable and provisions relate to leases. If we turn to the segmental information, and I'll start with the lease regulated division, Consumer. Revenue in this division of just over ZAR 1.8 billion ended almost 6% above the prior year, supported by an average price increase of 3% and a mix benefit of 3.6%, the latter mainly attributable to the inclusion of the Dermopal range since July last year. Organic volumes declined by almost 1%, improving significantly from the 8% decrease we reported at the end of the first 6 months of the financial year. The half 2 sales were 7% ahead of half 1. Gross margin in Consumer ended marginally below the prior year due to a change in mix. Operating expenditure was exceptionally well controlled and ended 3.5% above the prior year, below inflation, and it includes an annual salary increase to all employees. As a result, trading profit of ZAR 385 million ended 6.2% above the prior year, and we are very pleased with the second half trading profit improvement of 17% over the first half. Moving to OTC. Revenue of ZAR 2.4 billion ended ZAR 20 million below the prior year, an average price increase of 6.2% more than compensated for the volume decline of 5.4%, which more than halved since half 1. The mix effect was negative due to the repatriation of a portfolio of brands to a multinational company consequent to global corporate activity. In the second half of the financial year, the trading performance improved notably. And as we mentioned, driven by high demand for the winter basket and normal buying patterns from pharmacy wholesalers. In addition, the supply chain challenges, which were prevalent in the first half were fully remedied by the end of January 2025. All of these factors result in half-on-half revenue improving by 22%. The gross margin ended above the prior year, driven by the improvement in the exchange rate and an advantageous sales mix. Operating expenditure was very well controlled and ended only 2.5% above the prior year. Trading profit of ZAR 404 million ended a commendable 5.4% above the prior year with the second half trading profit improving 35% over the first half. In looking at Prescription, revenue of ZAR 3.3 billion ended ZAR 101 million or 3% below the prior year. Organic volumes decreased by 5.7%, reflecting an improvement from the 9.5% decline reported in the first half of the financial year, which was supported by normal buying patterns from pharmacy wholesalers in half 2. An average price increase of 4% was realized and product mix declined by 1.3%, mainly due to the loss of the D.O.R.C. surgical portfolio following its global acquisition by Carl Zeiss. Gross margin ended below the prior year, adversely impacted by the sales mix and a substantial reduction in production levels at the Wadeville plant throughout the year. Trading profit of ZAR 265 million ended 24.5% below the prior year. While the performance is well below expectations, it reflects a significant recovery from the 52.5% decline we reported after 6 months. Lastly, if we look at the Hospital division, revenue of ZAR 2.2 billion ended 6.7% above the prior year. This was supported by an average price increase of 3.6%. Organic volumes increased by almost 2% and a mix benefit of around 1% was achieved with the repatriation of the established product FEIBA to a multinational company being more than offset by the onboarding of wound care and ostomy products from Convatec. Both LVPs and the renal portfolio have seen significant increased volumes. Gross margin ended lower than the prior year due to the less favorable sales mix as a result of the increased LVP tender sales and no FEIBA sales. We've also seen -- experienced some production challenges at that plant, including water supply interruptions and aged machinery. Operating expenditure also ended 2.5% above the prior year. And as a result, trading profit of ZAR 125 million ended 2.5% below the prior year. Then lastly, in relation to the corporate activity that is ongoing with NATCO Pharma Limited. As you are all aware, following the publication of a SENS announcement on 23 July this year, Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited entered into a transaction implementation agreement with NATCO Pharma. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, NATCO will acquire the minority shares via scheme of arrangement. Upon implementation, Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited will be delisted and operate as a privately held company with Bidvest remaining the controlling shareholder. We expect to post a circular to shareholders in early September and then the shareholders' meeting will follow in early October. If the scheme is approved and becomes unconditional, delisting and shareholder proceeds should follow in late October or early November. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That concludes my part of the presentation. I will hand back to Irene, and we welcome any questions.

[Operator Instructions] At this time, we have no questions on the conference call, and I would like to hand over to webcast questions.

Okay. Irene, thank you. It appears that there are no questions on the webcast. We're just checking. Nothing. Yes. Okay. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us. I hope that means that we've given you a comprehensive overview. We wish everyone a good day and a good weekend, and we hope the Springboks do a lot better tomorrow than they did last week. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.