Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (HIK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the second event in our 2021 Meet the Management series. I'm Siggi Olafsson, the CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals. And today, we will meet the management of Hikma brand business in MENA, in the Middle East and North Africa. Firstly, this is quite a different business to our injectable division to which we have the last Meet the Management event. As such, we are taking a slightly different approach to this presentation. And alongside our President of MENA, we have invited 2 of our country managers to present to you on the business, and we will also have a short video with contribution from a broader range of MENA management. As before, we are keeping this event relatively short, only 1 hour. A replay will be made available on our website. Before we start, I would like to remind you and refer you to the safe harbor statement in front of this presentation you see on the screen now. But let's quickly review the agenda. After this intro, I'm delighted to be joined by Mazen Darwazah, who is the President of MENA. Mazen will give an overview of the Branded business. He will be followed by Masoud Abdelmajid, the VP of Egypt, who will discuss our commercial capabilities as well as our product focus and our partnership strengths. Then we will have Ma'moon Araidah, the VP of Algeria and Morocco, who will be presenting on our manufacturing, R&D capabilities and pipeline opportunities. And following the presentation, we will have time for Q&A before wrapping up. The Branded business in MENA is the foundation of Hikma. This is where the company was founded approximately 43 years ago and continues to grow. Hikma is the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in MENA, with operations in all 18 markets of the region and has 23 manufacturing plants. The brand business delivers 26% of the total revenue in 2020 and 90% of the net operating profit. I'm hugely proud of our teams who even during uncertainty of the COVID pandemic achieved 5% revenue and 11% core operating profit growth in 2020 at constant currency. We benefit from a large network of commercial people of approximately 2,000 sales and marketing employees, large product offering covering significant number of therapeutic areas, and flexible manufacturing operations. I could go on, but I really want you to hear from the rest of the team that is delivering the results. So I'll now hand it over to Mazen.

Thank you, Siggi. Also thank you to all the investors and analysts who have joined the call today to learn more about our Branded business. As I am sure you all know, our business in MENA spans both injectable and noninjectables. But today, we will be focusing on our non-injectable business in MENA. Hikma has a long history in the region. Since our founding, over 40 years, in '78 by my late father Samih, we wanted to increase access to affordable medicines in the MENA region and build manufacturing capabilities that are up to international standards. Over the years, we have expanded in the region through organic growth, investment in greenfield operations and bolt-on acquisitions as the slides highlights. Today, we are an established company in the region, a local company with global expertise. We are the fifth largest pharmaceutical company MENA, as Siggi said. And this positions us with the large global innovative companies, and we compete head-to-head with these companies across our markets. As you can see also, the largest local company by value. There are no other local companies that have a footprint, has growth, as we do in terms of product portfolio, local infrastructure. By this, I mean our sales team, manufacturing plants and distribution capabilities. The MENA market is a large one. The chart on the right of the slide shows a market of USD 31 billion and highlights the importance of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which offer the largest opportunities in the region; and Algeria, of course. In 2020, our Branded business had revenues of USD 613 million and the core operating profit of USD 126 million. Our ability to leverage our global capabilities and to act locally across the MENA markets has been key to our success. We operate in 18 markets in the MENA region. This is important for our strategy, especially once it comes to partnering with global innovative companies who are looking to work with a partner who has full coverage of the region. We have 23 manufacturing plants across MENA with a variety of specialized focus. Local manufacturing is a very important aspect of our business. Ma'moon will talk more about Hikma's strength in this area. But it is key to note how important it is to be able to manufacture at a local level because this often is the deciding factor in securing government tenders in the MENA region. We have 5,700 colleagues in the MENA region. This includes a specialized sales force of over 2,000 whose job is very important part of our business model. Having a strong presence across the region is very important to us, but there are clearly some markets that offer greater opportunities. In 2018, we announced a new tiered approach to our MENA markets. The tiers are based on different criteria, including market size, growth potential, risk profile, demographics and, of course, the Hikma market position. Our Tier 1 markets received more capital investment and marketing spend than markets in other tiers, with an objective of getting the best return on investment by focusing on markets with highest various potential. As you can see in the chart, Tier 1 markets: Algeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia make up just under 60% of the Branded revenue and have collectively grown at an 8.8% reported CAGR from 2018 to 2020. Of course, we do invest across all our markets to drive growth and have also been focusing on our Tier 2 markets like UAE and Iraq, where we have the potential to grow our market share. We also focus on Jordan, which, of course, is a strong base for us, and this is where Hikma was founded over 40 years ago. As you can see on this slide, we are a top player in each of our Tier 1 markets. Focusing on Saudi Arabia. Saudi is an important market for us. We are at #5 in the private market as shown here. But we also sell the government through large tenders. The Saudi government spends 13.5% of its national budget on health care. If we combine the private and tenders market, Hikma is the second largest pharmaceutical company in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to competing for government tenders, our positioning as a multinational company is really important and helps us to differentiate us from local competitors. We also have our own local distribution company for the private sector in Saudi, giving us better customer coverage, improving our cost structure and cementing our position as a global company with a local presence. As I said, Ma'moon and Masoud will provide more insight into Algeria and Egypt. But it is fair to say that while all 18 markets in the MENA are different, we do have a consistent strategy across the region. Here in this slide, we outlined our strategy for branded business. I have spoken about the tiering of the markets. The next element of our strategy is therapeutic area focus. We are developing the portfolio and pipeline of products in key therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, diabetes, oncology and CNS. Leveraging our partner of choice status is an essential part of our strategy, so that we can offer doctors and patients in the region the most up-to-date treatments in our focus areas. Our commercial capabilities are key to the strategy as we strive to have the best sales force in the region. Last is our high-quality manufacturing base. We constantly invest in our manufacturing capabilities to ensure quality and reliability. As you can see from the graphs here, since we tiered our markets in 2018, the business has produced good growth. Our strategy is working. And we are putting our focus in the right areas to deliver long-term sustainable growth in the MENA region. Finally, I know we are limited on time and cannot have all the MENA leaders give a presentation to this audience today. I wanted you to hear from a few of our colleagues who lead different functions in the MENA region. So we put together a short video, which we will play now. After this, you will hear from both Masoud and Ma'moon later, who will be presenting our commercial capabilities and product focus. So now we will go to the video, and we share it together. Thank you. [Presentation]

Thank you, Mazen. I'm Masoud Abdelmajid, VP of Egypt. I've been with Hikma for 5.5 years, mainly overlooking Egypt. And I would also like to say how pleased I am to be presenting the Branded business to investors today. I want to start by talking about Hikma's commercial strength in the MENA. Currently, we have more than 2,000 medical representatives across the MENA countries, covering more than 200,000 contacts per month. These businesses are vital to the success of the Branded generics and our own in-licensed originator products. They are also augmented with a variety of engagement activities that are tailored to suit our key stakeholders. Our reps are organized into a team that each have a therapeutic focus. This ensures we are developing good relationships with doctors, which helps us bring added value to our products. We constantly conduct advisory boards with key opinion leaders. By working closely with these doctors, we can better understand and identify the unmet needs in the market. This helps us decide which new product to develop and how we can provide better patient support. We also run patient campaigns and support programs to increase awareness and help achieve better health outcomes. We have regular meetings and follow-ups with pharmacists and purchasers to ensure patient accessibility to our products in both the private and tender markets. Partly, as a result of COVID, we have strengthened our digital outreach, which was crucial at that time, and we now have a mix of traditional and digital campaigns to compensate for the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. For example, in Egypt, the country I oversee, we have hosted 140 virtual conferences since the start of 2020, with more than 90,000 health care professionals, both doctors and pharmacists. We have hosted over 250 key local and international speakers at those events. One of the great features of these virtual events is that we can be rolled out across the region. So a conference that would originally be targeted just in Egypt can be opened up to our other geographies. It was a great experience and exposure for Hikma across the region and for the doctors to meet and see each other across the whole region. In Egypt, we have over 540 medical reps. The reach and know-how supports us in marketing established products and successfully launching differentiated products that supports our growth in areas like pain, IBS, CNS, diabetes, immunology and oncology. Their experience and expertise and strong sales background supported us in our recent launches of [indiscernible] lornoxicam, which is a Takeda originator under license part, and Marovarex, our BMF pharmacy patients, Lenalidomide our oral oncology product for multiple myeloma. Keep in mind, those are all first in the market in Egypt, which is something we always strive to do, as Ma'moon will explain as well later. I will now move on to talking about our products in a bit more details as well as our approach to in-licensing and partnering. Historically, Hikma's Branded business has had great success with its anti-infective products. With medicines such as Amoclan and Zomax having been good drivers for our growth. Whilst our anti-infective franchise remains an important part of the business, we are increasingly focusing on what we see as higher-value therapeutic areas. This is one of the drivers for our growth in MENA. The slide shows a select example of some of our more recent launches -- launch products such as Divinus and Sclera, which focus on chronic therapeutic areas. Divinus and Sclera are good examples of R&D function, delivering good value branded generics to the market. Sclera is a generic provision of a Biogen multiple sclerosis drugs. And Divinus is a generic of an AstraZeneca diabetes medication. Both were first to the market throughout the different MENA markets. Next slide, please. Moving to partnerships, which are very important to Hikma. Through partnerships, our teams can bring innovative products and be sole supplier to the region. The relationships we have are great differentiator for Hikma. And we pride ourselves in leveraging our regulatory expertise, experience, manufacturing know-how, ability to go to the market across the region and winning important new business. I wanted to share a few examples. Firstly, with Takeda. Our partnership goes back to our purchase of APM in Jordan in 2007. We have expanded this relationship over time, notably in 2017, when we gained the right to register, manufacture and commercialize 4 of Takeda's leading primary care products in the MENA. We have seen successful recent launches from this deal, notably the recent launches of Vipidia, a type 2 diabetes medicine. I would also like to highlight our partnership with [ KZ, ] which started in Morocco in 2011. This is also particularly relevant to Egypt. Wherein 2020, we announced a new partnership for a respiratory and neonatal products. An important therapeutic area to break ground in. These are great examples of building on an existing relationship to expand across geographies and therapeutic areas. Finally, Astellas. We established a partnership with them in the early 1980s to license a number of products, including anti-infectives and CNS across the MENA. This is a partnership that we built on over the years by adding new products. And in 2018 and 2020, we acquired the rights for a portfolio of products, which are now fully owned by Hikma. With that, I want to thank you. I will hand over to Ma'moon.

Thank you, Masoud. Good afternoon, and good morning to everyone. My name is Ma'moon Araidah. I have been with Hikma for more than 20 years. I'm very proud to say that recent years, I have had the opportunity to play a leadership role in each of our Tier 1 markets. Currently, I'm responsible for Algeria and Morocco. Now in the next few slides, we will cover our manufacturing footprint in MENA and also our R&D pipeline. Now our manufacturing footprint and capabilities are a real strength of Hikma as the map and table in this slide show. It's worth mentioning that most governments in MENA encourage and push for local manufacturing of essential medicines, and they provide some incentives for local manufacturers. So discipline plus the focus on quality as well as our sales and marketing infrastructure and distribution capabilities are some of many reasons we are a partner of choice in MENA. Now pulling out a few manufacturing highlights. The breadth of our facilities in Jordan is a great strength. We have 5 plants in Jordan. 4 of them, they are FDA approved. And actually, this gives us the ability to supply not only MENA but also our U.S. generics business out of these plants. In Hikma, we do believe that differentiation is the name of the game. So across our plants, our teams are always looking at how we can better differentiate from the competition. For example, in Egypt, we have capabilities to manufacture hard-to-make medicines as well as medicine with the newer technologies like multi-encapsulation, like mini tablets and bilayer tablets. Saudi Arabia, the biggest market in MENA is also a very important manufacturing hub for Hikma. In Saudi Arabia, we have 3 plants, including FDA-approved cephalosporin plant. We manufacture and commercialize more than 250 products from these 3 plants. Now moving to Algeria. In Algeria, we have 4 plants with very significant capacity. Currently, we produce over 100 different products in these plants. In recent months and years, we have been adding to our capabilities, I mean, manufacturing capabilities, such as the introduction of single-dose stick packs as well as scatches. Algeria is the third biggest market in MENA. It's a very good examine of the importance of local manufacturing. Over 90% of our products that we see today in Algeria are locally manufactured. Now as of this year, we have further strengthened our local manufacturing presence with the opening of our new oral oncology plant. Actually, it is the first and the only plant in Algeria that is approved for manufacturing of oral oncology medicines. Now the benefits of having such a plant are numerous. First and foremost, it enables us to bring important medicines to cancer patients in the region. We have registered 10 oral oncology products so far and we will be registering a further 6 in the second half. I should also point out that we also have oncology facilities in Egypt. We also have FDA-approved oncology facility in Jordan. Now let's move to our pipeline and our research and development capabilities. This slide shows the volume of projects we are working on across our markets. I'll break this down by our top 5 pipeline countries, also by therapeutic area. Now for the Branded business, product development is conducted by the R&D team in Jordan, but it is complemented by local R&D centers in our Tier 1 markets. So having this spread allows us to accelerate development of new products in certain markets and tailor the product portfolio and pipeline to meet customer needs. Different countries in MENA have different regulatory pathways, different procedures, different requirements, and part of Hikma expertise and experience is navigating these. This is a great strength of Hikma and it gives us great confidence on the ability to deliver on our pipeline. You will see the therapeutic area chart that we have a significant pipeline that is focused on high-value areas that we believe they are the key to our branded business strategy. Our R&D efforts are delivering results. Last year, the Branded business had 71 new product launches, including 10 in Saudi Arabia, 8 in Algeria and 5 in Egypt. Now briefly looking at Algeria, where we have one of our specialist, MENA Research and Development Centers. We have a keen focus on our pipeline and in branching into higher-value areas where there is a customer need such as diabetes and hypertension. Of course, a prime example of this is oncology with the new facility we have already discussed. Our pipeline is continuing to deliver. In 2021, we will launch more than 10 products and 4 line extensions in Algeria. Most of them, they are phased to market. We are always looking to invest in new technologies and drug delivery systems. Some examples of what we are doing in Algeria that include sachets and single-dose stick packs. And these are reflective of the approach to pipeline taken across the region. So with that, I will hand back to Mazen to wrap up. Thank you.

Thank you, Ma'moon. I will do a quick summary, and then we can start the Q&A. I hope from what we've shown you today that you have a better picture of Hikma's Branded business model and strategy, our key strengths and some deeper insight into our management team. We feel our strategy is working. The tiered market approach we've taken continues to be successful. We are very proud of the strong partnerships we have in the region and will continue to build on this strength, both through expansion of existing partners like we have seen with Takeda and Chiesi as well as building new partnerships with innovative partners. We will continue to enhance our commercial expertise to ensure that Hikma is the best in business once it comes to marketing our products and services. At the heart of all of this is our great manufacturing infrastructure. And of course, our people who really are the greatest and most important asset of Hikma. With these strengths, I'm confident that we can continue our successful track record to grow our revenues. And we will continue to look for opportunities to achieve operational leverage on the established infrastructure as we have -- already have in the MENA region. Finally, a big thank you for my colleagues, Siggi, Ma'moon and Masoud and the global team worldwide for joining us today. Now we can take some questions if you have. And I will hand it back to our colleague in London, Leanne, who will be guiding the Q&A session. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] And with that, we have our first question from KC.

I hope you can hear me, okay?

Yes.

Perfect. I just had one question. At a very high level, how is the split between private pay and government pay for the Branded business? And how do you expect the mix to change in the medium term? And if you could also provide some insight into how the margin differential is between private and government pay, please?

Yes, I'll take that question. KC, basically in the Arab world, it's not 1 market, it's 18 different markets. So every market has its own strategy. For example, like we highlighted in Saudi Arabia, the tender market is around 15%. In countries like Algeria, it's around 30%. When you go to countries that have a more of what they call, government subsidies. So it varies between one country and another. But in general, I would say, to use a regular rule of thumb, the tender business is growing because all of the governments are subsidizing more the pharma and subsidizing their population. So eventually, it will start growing. Now the margins in the tender business, of course, are quite different from those in the private. We don't usually disclose these numbers, but I will tell you easily that the private markets usually has different margins, which are a little bit higher than those in the tender business.

Our next question is from Jo Walton.

I've got a couple of questions. You talk about 6% to 7%, both top and effectively bottom line growth. Could you compare that with the market growth? So how much faster have you been able to grow than the market? And you also mentioned that governments are providing more subsidy going forward. In your internal planning for the next few years, how fast do you think the MENA market is going to grow? And what level of excess growth do you think that you're going to have? And if I can just push my luck on manufacturing. You've emphasized several times how important it is to have local manufacturing. Is that in any 1 market at just sort of final fill finish? Or is there a real advantage to having API, formulation work, et cetera. And the reason that I ask that is there are a number of the major pharma companies, Sanofi, for example, who were there. And I imagine that they might do a little bit of fill finish, but they probably don't have the depth of manufacturing that you do. So I was just wondering what sort of advantage you had from really deep manufacturing in these countries?

Thanks for the question. So maybe Mazen, you can talk about the growth of the MENA market versus the growth of Hikma. If you start there.

Okay. once it comes to here, we're talking about constant currency and we're talking about reported because there is a big difference. Many markets, Jo, have a currency fluctuation like we've seen over the last 20 years. On an average, if you take the whole MENA on a constant or reported, I would say, the MENA -- total MENA growth is around 6% according to the statistics that we have. Hikma has grown at 7%. So we are always at least 1 point above the market total growth. So this is why -- how we are excelling. Now the reason why we are excelling because of new therapeutic classes and for manufacturing. For the new therapeutic classes, I'll give Ma'moon -- sorry, I'll give Masoud start with the new therapeutic classes. He'll give us an idea how we excel in choosing new therapeutic classes to go to these markets and he can give you an answer how we are gaining more market share. Masoud, if you please like to answer that?

Yes. Thank you, Mazen. Yes, I think this is part of our success in recent years and the growth we're driving is our internal R&D and in-licensing both. And I think it's important that we are venturing into more unique products, more chronic -- core chronic products, difficult to manufacture products. And this is where we added more manufacturing capabilities on the ground, which differentiates us from our competitors. So it's both the product and the manufacturing that go hand in hand. So -- and this is where we're heading, and this is where we see the growth is.

Maybe on the growth of the overall business, I think, Jo, we are not going to guide for any future years, but we see this as Mazen just highlighted, there is a growth in the governmental business, because of the participation. How that will affect our business and how that will affect the private business, it's difficult to say. We have been growing the business approximately 5% in constant currency over the last few years. We will look for opportunities with the portfolio, but it's difficult to guide how that impacts the future growth of the company. Because also it depends on the portfolio that Masoud was talking about. But also, it depends on how much that will impact the private business in each of the market. And your last question was about the local manufacturing. Maybe Ma'moon, you can take that a little bit and on the benefit we see and that we really are not in fill-and-finish, we're doing the whole thing.

Yes. Exactly. Thank you. So in most of our clients in MENA, actually, we are producing from API. So it is not just fill and finish. And this is very important. The golden rule in MENA if you want to expand your market share, you need to have local manufacturing. And a great example here, as I mentioned earlier, Algeria. Algeria any product that is locally manufactured then it is being banned from importation. So if you want to expand your market share, if you want to have as much as you want products, then you need to enter local manufacturing. And this is the case of most of MENA markets.

Jo, remember, we've been in the market for more than 40 years. So actually today, I would say we have one of the -- we're the only company that has an infrastructure in all of these markets. We are not -- we don't fancy building factories. This is not our strategy. But in many markets that we are enforced like Ma'moon said, and the government forces you to build to enter these markets. So many markets we have built, and we will see this protectionism going further. The more we're seeing the world opening, the more the Middle East is closing. And every country is actually closing itself and forcing companies to start manufacturing. So many companies have left these markets, and they cannot compete anymore on that level.

Yes. Maybe the last point on manufacturing, Jo, is, no company would set up 23 manufacturing plants for one region like we are doing. But it's the best for the business because locally manufactured products gives us much better opportunity. You would be more efficient to have 2 or 3 big plants. But by keeping 23 plants as Ma'moon and Mazen have been explaining, gives us the opportunity of growing locally with a global company that we are by delivering new products to the market.

Our next question is from Thibault.

I have 2, please. And the first one is on the market, in general. I mean, you are competing against a lot of large international companies. What trends are you seeing in terms of their behavior? Or do they tend to invest more in the region and kind of reinforce their presence there? Or are they switching more to kind of out-licensing type of model where -- which could be beneficial for you? And my second question is, so we've seen kind of an acceleration of growth with your changes in the strategy with the switch to tiered markets in -- from 2018. So what kind of next steps do you have in mind from where you are? Or is it just execution? And maybe just if I can add a last quick question on margins. It looks like you have margins in the kind of low 20s. Do you see room for expansion in coming years? And if you could give any color around that would be great.

So Mazen, maybe you start on the first one against -- how we are doing against big pharma? Are they still strong in the region? Or are we getting their products?

Thank you, Thibault. This is a very interesting question. Big pharma, we've noticed recently that the multinationals are discounting their presence in the MENA due to many unstable factors. Because of risk, because of the appeal that's going on every year. We have a riot here, deflation there, a coup d'etat here. So many companies started getting out of the MENA, and this is where our strength is. Because like we said, we are present in all of these markets. We have the footprint. So many of these multinationals are now today currently in negotiations with Hikma talking about their portfolio, talking about their partnership. And the examples Masoud said before like what we did with Takeda, what we did with Chiesi and the others are basically a fruit of our history and our perseverance in these markets staying here. The difference, Thibault, I have a very -- I always say, when there was a Coup d'etat in Egypt, the multinationals, they sent their planes, they took their expats, put them on the planes and left. We cannot do that. We're local people. I mean the management in Egypt is Egyptian. In Tunisia, it's Tunisians. So we are here to stay. And this is why we have become more of an attractive partner to multinationals. Masoud can talk a little bit more about that, add a little bit of flavor, please.

Thank you, Mazen. Actually, I wanted to add the important point, which is also growing our presence in our portfolio in licensing. It's not only the big multinationals that are exiting or leaving the area where we can grasp business from. It's also companies with unique and specialized products that are trying to come into the region. And this is where our specialty is. And this is where our footprint in the region and being a partner of choice across the region. They usually mean we're the first company that they attractive -- we look attractive to them due to our expertise and experience, the long history in the region and our footprint not only to market with our -- to the products in -- through our 2,000 medical reps, but also with our manufacturing capabilities as well, which makes it feasible for them to be in the region through our partnership with us.

A good example, Thibault, Ma'moon can tell you, what we did, for example, in Morocco and then Algeria with multinationals. If he can give us a flavor of that number?

Sure, Mazen. Actually, we have many cases, many examples where we launched a product before the originator. We have a great example last year, which is Sclera. Sclera Dimethyl Fumarate. It was the first locally manufactured oral therapy for multiple sclerosis. The usual, the traditional treatment for multiple sclerosis is through injectables. So we launched the first oral therapy for multiple sclerosis even before the originator. We have many -- and we have multiple examples in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt, in Jordan, in Morocco, where we launched just before the originator because of the access, because of the pipeline and because of focus on Tier 1 markets.

Thibault, I would like to add for that. Then I'll leave the hard part to Siggi about the margins. For example, I'll give you an example. In Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi -- sorry, Morocco, Egypt, if you don't have a local company, you cannot launch these products. So all of the multinationals, they come to us in order to become their partners in launching this. So -- this is the sort of growth that we are going to witness over the next few coming years where multinationals, they want to have a local partner with a global compliance, with a global presence like being a public company like Hikma is, and to partner with them, to go forward in these markets. And eventually, we will see this more and more as we go forward.

I may add as well before Siggi jumps in. Also, I mean, Ma'moon gave a really, really great example about DMF, which is called Marovarex in Egypt. It was also the first to market. But also, I gave an example of [indiscernible] which is an under-licensed product of Takeda, their lornoxicam. This is a very difficult product to manufacture. And they've tried for many years. And with our capabilities and manufacture capabilities in Egypt, we're able to do it due to the very high humidity requirements. And we actually launched in 2020. So I mean, this is another great example of our strength in the region.

Yes. So your other 2 questions, Thibault. So what are the things than the tiering of the market will help us to continue to grow? Clearly, as you saw from the data that Mazen was showing, from 2018, we have shown a better growth than before by focusing on the right market, putting more money into the Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets because the return on investment is better. On top of that, what we are doing is, obviously, we are saving our portfolio. I think you just heard that from Masoud and Ma'moon, what we are doing in individual markets. Because the key is for us to be differentiated because if you don't differentiate, if you go in just with a regular generic branded, the local competition can easily mirror that. But if we are the first movers, we come with an interesting both licensed specialty products, but also an interesting branded generics like the Sclera product that we've just talked about, that gives us the next level. And then, of course, like you mentioned in your question, Thibault, it's a better execution. It is filling up the plant, lowering the cost. The one thing we are not doing and that addresses the last question around the margin, we have these 2,000 sales reps -- sales support in the region. It's even over 2,000 now. And what that maintained and Mazen has maintained over the years, is we want to continue with that number of sales reps, and even grow that a little bit if anything, because I think it's my job and Mazen's job and Ma'moon's job and it's Masoud's job to find the portfolio, that's exciting enough for these people to promote. And that's how you grow the margin. The biggest challenge in growing the margin is the FX. And probably the best example was last year where on constant currency, we reported an operating margin in excess of 22% but the reported margin was just under 20%. Now we cannot too much manage the FX fluctuation in the region. But I think with the new portfolio, with a tier focus, with more of a specialty portfolio, 37% of all our revenue in the region, is from a partnership products, the space-healthy products that we are bringing in. I think the more we can do that, I think, our margin will go a little bit up in the 20s. But the net margin at the end of the day will always be affected a little bit by the FX, which is very difficult to manage.

We have a question in the Q&A panel. So 37% revenues come from unlicensed products. How has that percentage evolved over time? And do you expect it to change much over the medium term?

Under license, like we've just explored has been through our DNA since we started in the '70s, I mean, in the late '70s. And we always have really been a prime choice of multinationals to get these products. Now the percentage usually varies between 37% to 40%. And the rest of the business is our own business, our in-house and our R&D. And as you have heard from previous conferences, we are spending more on R&D. We have restructured R&D department. Now we're having the pipeline, new launches. So all of this eventually, we will try to stay a split between multi -- I mean, between under license and between our own portfolio. So we are comfortable around the 37%, 40%, I will say, percentage of being a multinational company cooperation in the local region.

Our next question is from KC.

See, when you're thinking about allocating capital among the 3 divisions, how do you go about that exercise, please? Is it purely on a written on invested capital basis? Or in the case of Branded division, are you focused on improving Branded margins? So are you willing to allocate capital here at least in the medium term? If you could just share your thoughts on where Branded division stands at a group level in terms of invested capital?

Yes, KC, it's a little bit at...

Siggi, I think you're frozen.

That's Siggi's way of escaping the question, I guess.

No, no, no. Siggi, I think, you have to get -- KC, historically, Hikma, we have 3 different geographical areas. We have the injectables, we have oral and we have the European operations. Our business is a long-term strategy. I'll give you a very good example. When we started our operations in Portugal, we broke ground in '89. We started manufacturing in '94. It took us from '94 to 2004 to see the revenue coming from Portugal because of the registrations and getting the regulatory authorities. So in the MENA, most of our facilities have been there for a long time. So now it's a CapEx process, plus a new infrastructure that we have to put in order to compete or to stay fulfilling the requirements that we have with the local government. So we want to continue our business in MENA. We want to grow in the U.S. like you have seen and we want to continue growing in Europe. So the allocation of capital in these markets basically is that we have -- like you all know, we have an executive committee. Siggi is heading that. And we have forecast budgeting. Every year we go and we do that. So basically, it's the needs of the market to keep the operational aspect, to keep the integrity of the systems to, for example, compliance CRP, to keep focus on R&D. We spend a certain amount that you have seen, which has increased recently. All of these together is basically how our decision is being made in order to allocate our capital. Now I'm sure Siggi today is in Iceland. He is not ducking the question. But what happened today, basically, I think, we have a technical fault. I hope that gives you an answer, KC.

Our next question is from Rosie.

It's actually kind of only kind of tangentially related to the MENA region, I do apologize. But you said your Jordan manufacturing supplies a lot of generics to the U.S. And I just wondered if you're seeing any change in dynamics due to kind of the issues that some of your competitors in India are unfortunately facing? And if there's been any kind of pickup in demand because of that?

Rosie, we supply the U.S. basically with antibiotics from both our Saudi FDA-approved plant and Jordan. And as you have seen, the demand for anti-infectors, in general, after the COVID has gone down worldwide because of people not meeting each other. So the anti-infectors from -- that's leaving this part of the world to the U.S. and to -- from Saudi and from Jordan has been constant over the years. We saw a little bit of shrink in the quantities basically due to the situation and the -- but we have the capacity to ramp up once it's ready. Now the injectables, this is where we're doing in Europe. That's a different story. Two weeks ago, we had a conference. We had our colleagues with injectables. So most of the supply to the U.S. basically comes from Europe, from our injectables. From the MENA, it's not that great. We supply every year something in the range of $10 million to $20 million depending on the markets. So Siggi is back now. We have technology working again. Siggi, we didn't duck that question. We answered that.

Yes, I have a beautiful answer to KC's question. And then my computer died. It's one way of doing things. So KC, I think around how capital allocations are around the businesses. First of all, it's based on opportunities. And if you think about it, in terms of CapEx, we invest approximately $50 million to $60 million in the manufacturing plants in the MENA region every year. About half of that is maintenance CapEx, and the other half is around buying new equipment, new technology to be up to speed. In terms of the R&D investment, we are increasing that. We -- for example, this year, we estimate that we are doubling the number of clinical studies we are doing in MENA versus 2 years ago. It's unfair to compare it with 2020 because we have the pandemic in this 2020, but if you look at 2019, we are more than doubling the number of clinical trials. But it's not like we are allocating a budget of money because that's the return you get from the region. The region comps, the Masoud and Ma'moon and the countryman who's come with a wish list, and we look at this wish list, what we can do, how we can invest. So it's like who is your favorite kid. If you're asked that KC, you can never say you always have to treat them, all 3 of them equally and find the best opportunity for the overall business.

Plus KC, over to what Siggi said and what I said before, we also have to look at the risk factors in this part of the world because of the currency, because of the regulatory aspects. So we have to sustain a certain level of allocations in different parts of the world to keep the risk profile of the company balanced between the 3 different regions.

Our next question is for Ma'moon. Ma'moon, why is the Algerian business operating more strongly now? What are you doing differently?

Thank you. This is a very good question. I believe we had a challenging year in 2019 because if you recall because of some political instability in the country. But since then, we have turned around the business, and we believe now we have very strong businesses in Algeria, very strong and consistent. We have changed our commercial strategy. We restructured our relationship with the wholesalers. We restructured also our promotional lines. So -- and the most important now we have great focus on the pipeline. So we are targeting to launch around 10 products per year. Most of them, they are differentiated. So they will bring great added value to patients and health care providers. A very good example, Sclera, that I mentioned earlier. Another great example is the oncology. So we have the oncology portfolio and we will launch more than 10 oral oncology products in 2021, and all of that will definitely augment our business moving forward.

Just to add to Ma'moon is saying, just to highlight, the growth between 2019 -- 2019 had some political instability in the country. But the growth between 2019, which was a challenging year, into 2020, was over 30% that the Algerian team delivered. I'm so proud of it. It's amazing how they executed, changed the strategy, introduced new products. So 30% growth between years, amazing results they delivered.

And just I would add, Siggi, that we are about to conclude H1 2021 and if we compare it to 2020...

You can't tell them anything about H1, yet.

No, no. I want to tell that, I'm very pleased with the performance.

We have time for 1 last question. The question is looking more at Egypt. So can you talk more about the growth drivers for Hikma in Egypt?

Masoud?

I'll take that. I mean, Egypt is one of the highest GDP's growth not only in MENA, it's on a global level. We're seeing a lot of FX stability as well. Interest rates are diving, which is great macroeconomics drivers. And naturally, we benefit from the macro trends. We are entering more into -- venturing more into the tender business as well in Egypt. And it's still a small part of our business recently, but we are growing in that sector a little more. I think also in Egypt, one of the biggest drivers for us is investing, as I said before, and in my slides is investing in -- and Ma'moon also mentioned it in the manufacturing capabilities, which will give us more ability to produce more unique and difficult-to-produce products. And this is where this differentiates us than the competition and gives us that edge over others in the market. I think last but not least, is our, always looking for that inorganic growth to complement our -- and supplement our organic growth in Egypt. So I think this is where the growth areas for Egypt is.

Plus, you have to remember that Egypt is the most populous nation in this part of the world.

Yes, yes.

It's more than 100 million, number one. When we entered Egypt, we were #45 when we started 10 years ago. Now, today, we're #8 in market share or #9. So we really have grown a lot in Egypt. And like Masoud said, all the ingredients are there or our infrastructure is there. The management team, we have a very strong management team in Egypt and we are optimistic about the growth in the Egyptian economy. And as it was stated 2 days ago by the OECD, Egypt is going to become, I think, #8 or #9 on a global level by the year 2030.

2030, yes.

So Egypt is an area, we're really focusing on.

Yes, and also on top of that, they have a really good football team, which should not be forgotten.

And handball team, right?

And handball team. So with that, we are out of time. I just want to thank all the investors that came online with us, submitted questions. Of course, if you have all the questions, submit them to our Investor Relations. I want to thank the team, Ma'moon, Masoud, and Mazen, of course. Our next meeting, Meet the Management, we estimate to be around September time frame with the generic business. Similar format as this. Quick short presentation and then Q&A. But I want to thank you for your time today, looking forward to see you hopefully face-to-face around our results on August 6. Thank you.