It improved by 18.2% in the first half
Sothema is consolidating its growth momentum thanks to its portfolio of differentiated products and its international expansion strategy. This combined approach is the growth of the group’s vision.
Pharmaceutical laboratories Sothema posted a clear financial performance in the first half of the year. Consolidated turnover during the first six months recorded an increase of 18.2% compared to the same period of the previous year. It was indeed consolidated by 177 million dirhams to reach 1.15 billion dirhams at the end of June.
A situation favored by the solid contribution of the commercial achievements of the West Afric Pharma subsidiary. “Sothema is consolidating its growth momentum thanks to its portfolio of differentiated products and its international expansion strategy. This combined approach is the development of the group’s vision, driven by the diversification of activities with promising prospects for organic and external growth in the short and medium term”, indicates in this regard Lamia Tazi, CEO of Sothema.
And to continue that “at the end of June 2022, we led our growth with a disciplined management of expenses and the extent of our marketing efforts on the African continent, Middle-East and Europe. Once once more, the emerging market of Senegal strongly contributed to our performance achieved by the West Afric Pharma subsidiary which achieved excellent achievements”. In terms of sales, the volume increased by 16.9% in the first half. Transactions thus rose from 497 million dirhams in the first six months of 2021 to 581 million dirhams at the end of June 2022. In the first half of 2022, consolidated EBITDA and gross operating surplus (EBITDA) increased sharply.
They appreciated respectively by +28.2 and 25% compared to the same period last year, thus marking an increase of 62 million and 56 million dirhams respectively. This progression reflects, according to Sothema, commercial performance and efficiency gains to create further operational growth. It should be noted that in the second quarter of the year, Sothema observed an improvement in its net debt. It rose by 11.3% to reach 118 million dirhams once morest 113 million dirhams. Note that Sothema committed an envelope of 14 million dirhams in the first half, an increase of 7 million dirhams compared to the previous period. The net debt ratio (gearing) thus reached 13.4%.
The Group indicates that it remains low and reflects the significant debt capacity enabling Sothema to achieve its ambitious objectives. In terms of outlook, the Group is preparing to take an important step to materialize its international growth objectives. In this regard, Sothema plans to set up in the Central African region where talks have been started to this effect. This will allow the group to create a bridge to easily enter the English-speaking African markets of the southern region and to access the opportunities of the markets of East Africa and, thus, strengthen its presence in a later phase.
