BioGaia AB: Year-end report January – December 2023

FOURTH QUARTER 2023

(Figures in parentheses refer to the corresponding period last year, unless otherwise specified)

• Net sales amounted to SEK 297.8 million (274.3), an increase of SEK 23.5 million, or 9% (excluding foreign exchange effects, 7%).
• Net sales in the Pediatrics segment amounted to SEK 220.0 million (207.4), an increase of 6% (excluding foreign exchange effects an increase of 5%).
• Net sales in the Adult Health segment amounted to SEK 76.4 million (64.7), an increase of 18% (excluding foreign exchange effects, an increase of 17%).
• Operating expenses amounted to SEK 144.9 million (136.9), an increase of SEK 8.0 million (6%). Operating expenses, excluding items affecting comparability, increased by 7% to SEK 144.9 million (135.1).
• Operating profit increased by 13% to SEK 80.5 million (71.1), which corresponds to an operating margin of 27% (26%).
• Adjusted operating profit increased by 10% to SEK 80.5 million (72.9), which corresponds to an adjusted operating margin of 27% (27%).
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 67.4 million (139.4), a decrease of 52%.
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.67 (1.38) before and after dilution[1].
• Cash flow amounted to SEK 100.2 million (89.0).
• Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2023 amounted to SEK 1,544.2 million (1,488.4 at December 31, 2022).

Key events in the fourth quarter of 2023
16 October. BioGaia announced that results for the third quarter exceeded market expectations.
 

JANUARY – DECEMBER 2023

(Figures in parentheses refer to the corresponding period last year, unless otherwise specified)

• Net sales amounted to SEK 1,296.5 million (1,104.0), an increase of SEK 192.5 million, or 17% (excluding foreign exchange effects, 11%).
• Net sales in the Pediatrics segment amounted to SEK 1,013.5 million (868.4), an increase of 17% (excluding foreign exchange effects, 11%).
• Net sales in the Adult Health segment amounted to SEK 275.2 million (230.2), an increase of 20% (excluding foreign exchange effects, an increase of 14%).
• Operating expenses amounted to SEK 507.1 million (440.5), an increase of SEK 66.6 million (15%).
• Operating expenses, excluding items affecting comparability, increased by 16% to SEK 505.9 million (435.4).
• Operating profit increased by 23% to SEK 443.1 million (361.5), which corresponds to an operating margin of 34% (33%).
• Adjusted operating profit increased by 21% to SEK 444.2 million (366.5), which corresponds to an adjusted operating margin of 34% (33%).
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 365.4 million (373.8), a decrease of 2%.
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 3.62 (3.70) before and after dilution[1].
• Cash flow amounted to SEK 66.6 million (-12.8).
• Cash flow includes paid dividends of SEK 292.8 million (301.3).

• In October 2020 BioGaia announced that it had carried out a directed issue of 2.86 million class B shares, raising proceeds of SEK 1.1 billion. Since then, BioGaia has further evaluated several larger potential acquisitions, but could not satisfactorily conclude the viability or strategic fit. For the coming years BioGaia will focus on evaluating smaller and more tactical acquisitions. With this change in acquisition strategy BioGaia has an excess cash position and has therefore decided to increase its future dividends as follows. In addition to the current dividend policy of 50% of the group earnings after tax and after adjustment of non-recurring items, for the coming years BioGaia intends to give extra dividends of 50 to 100% of the group earnings after tax and after adjustment of non-recuring items, provided that the future cash flows are in line with BioGaia’s projections. BioGaia will still have sufficient net cash to allow selective acquisitions of considerable size while maintaining sufficient funding to deal with future potential variations of the group earnings.
• The Board proposes that the upcoming Annual General Meeting on 7 May 2024 approves an ordinary dividend according to policy of SEK 1.90 (1.45) per share, plus an extra dividend of SEK 5.00 (1.45) per share resulting in a total dividend of SEK 6.90 (2.90) per share, corresponding to SEK 696.8 million (292.8).
• The Board further proposes a provision to the Foundation to Prevent Antibiotic Resistance of SEK 4.4 million (4.4).
   

Key events after the end of the fourth quarter
No key events that are not presented in this year-end report took place after the end of the fourth quarter.
 

[1] Key ratio defined according to IFRS. For definitions of other key ratios, see page 17.
 

CEO’S COMMENTS

Another record year
This fourth quarter is my first full quarter as CEO of BioGaia. It has been a successful and eventful quarter - and I have had time to form a view of where we have our opportunities and challenges, and how we should prioritize to drive future continued growth. I am grateful to have been entrusted to lead BioGaia into the next phase of expansion.

As we now round off 2023, we can state that we have managed to maintain strong growth despite all the challenges of the outside world such as war, inflation, and geopolitical tensions. Net sales in 2023 amounted to SEK 1,297 million, an increase of 17% in comparison with last year. Adjusted for currency effects, this increase was 11%. Despite ongoing investments in the expansion of our direct distribution business, we have managed to maintain our high operating margins.

The Pediatric segment, which accounts for most of our sales, increased by 17% compared to the previous year. The Adult segment is growing by 20% compared to previous years. This is a sign of strength as we during the year have focused even more on increasing awareness of our products to adults.

Americas and APAC are developing strongly
At the beginning of the year of 2023, we started direct distribution in Canada after the previous partner distribution agreement with Ferring ended. The decision to start our own direct business has proven to be successful, and we have benefited from the operational synergies we now have with our US direct business.

Americas, which includes the USA, Canada, and Latin America, developed positively during the year. Online sales continue to grow strongly in the US with our direct business. One of our partners, Gerber, a Nestlé company, decided to stop selling their co-branded Gerber/BioGaia products and focus solely on their own products. Despite this, USA continued to outperform with growth of 26% in the fourth quarter.

Even though we only took over the distribution in Canada at the beginning of the year, we have had a strong increase in sales of BioGaia products during 2023. This is the result of excellent work by the new Canadian team to establish the BioGaia brand on Amazon, in Costco, and in several retail chains in the country. To increase awareness of our products in Canada, we have invested in training pharmacists and pharmacy staff, as well as increased visibility through influencer collaborations and partnerships with parent sites. In Latin America, sales continue to strongly increase thanks to our committed distribution partners. Above all, Brazil, Mexico, and Guatemala stand out with exceptional results.

The APAC region, especially China, South Korea and the Philippines has had impressive growth during the quarter and the full year. In China, we have had great success with digital marketing and sales via various social platforms, of which TikTok is a great example. In Japan, the dental profession is our main focus, and we have seen strong growth by building even more relationships with dental clinics and participating in important dental congresses.

During the quarter, a Sales and Marketing Conference for regional APAC distribution partners was organized to share our company strategy and best practices from around the region. This will serve as the foundation for our growth plans for the region for the coming year.

In the fourth quarter our sales in EMEA decreased by 29% which is partly explained by the fact that BioGaia terminated the distribution agreement and stopped supplying the Italian company Nóos S.r.l. in August 2023 for non-performance. While the matter has gone to arbitration, BioGaia is securing the availability of our products on the Italian market through our previous sub-distributor.

Despite the global economic slowdown, we have impressive and stable sales growth in the Americas and APAC. This confirms our thinking that BioGaia's Protectis drops for infants are resilient even in a downturn and in addition, that consumers will act on their belief in the importance of a healthy lifestyle and taking probiotic health supplements to prevent health problems.

We continue to raise awareness of BioGaia and superior probiotics
Strengthening BioGaia's brand is always a priority, and we regularly evaluate consumers' views of us. To continue building the brand, we, among other things, ran campaigns targeting different consumer segments in various channels. We are also working to increase knowledge about specific probiotics and therefore during the quarter we have launched a new updated consumer site (www.biogaia.com) where education about probiotics has a prominent role. BioGaia is one of the world leaders in probiotics and as a leader, it is crucial to drive and be part of initiatives that continually propel the industry forward. That is why we are members of organizations such as the International Probiotics Association (IPA), a global non-profit organization committed to advocating for the safe and efficacious use of pre-, pro-, and post-biotics worldwide. Recently, IPA announced me as a new member of the board for the global IPA, and as a new board member, I want to take the opportunity to raise education, sustainability, and lobbying high on the agenda. I strongly believe these are the key factors in successfully advancing the industry.

Milestones in our research
As we prioritize R&D, it is gratifying to see that the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) updated and published new guidelines for probiotics in 2023 where BioGaia's strain is once again mentioned. In the publication, L. reuteri DSM 17938 is the only probiotic strain with level 1 evidence for infant colic. BioGaia's probiotics for adults are also rated among the highest levels of evidence.

Through our newly built pilot facility in Eslöv, we have taken an important step towards developing and scaling up products that will contain next-generation probiotics. The facility handles the production of new strict anaerobic (oxygen-sensitive) strains that require new challenging steps during fermentation, as well as the production of traditional lactobacilli. Furthermore, during the year we have invested in a second production line for BioGaia Protectis Easy Dropper products.

With our research, we lay the foundation for continued innovation for the future and continue to solidify the clinical evidence for our probiotic strains in both existing and new indications.

Entering the next phase of growth
BioGaia is on the journey to continue to grow our sales. BioGaia's Protectis drops for infants continue to meet strong demand, thus showing high resilience during the economic downturn. At the same time, we work continuously to review our costs to continue to manage the unpredictable outside world. In 2024, we will make evidence based targeted significant investments in marketing and sales with the intention of further increasing our growth rate for our pediatric and adult products.

We have a unique competitive advantage where we succeed in combining BioGaia's consumer-adapted product portfolio, our evidence-based research, and our well-functioning omnichannel strategy to meet consumers’ needs. In addition, we have talented distribution partners who work diligently to educate the medical and healthcare professionals, as well as retailers, around the world about our products and our scientific research. Based on these strengths, the entire BioGaia team and I, are ready to accelerate growth and take further steps to be the most trusted probiotic brand in the world.

Theresa Agnew
President and CEO, BioGaia
February 7, 2024
 

You find the complete report with tables in the attached PDF or on https://www.biogaiagroup.com/investors/financial-reports/
 

Teleconference:
Investors, analysts and the media are invited to take part in a teleconference on the Year-End report to be held today, 7 February 2024, at 09:30 a.m. CET with CEO Theresa Agnew and CFO Alexander Kotsinas. More information about the teleconference is available here: https://financialhearings.com/event/48493

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Contacts:
Alexander Kotsinas, CFO
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +46 735 00 11 11

Mikaela Idermark Stern, Corporate Communications
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +46 730 95 61 50

About BioGaia
BioGaia is an innovative Swedish healthcare company that develops, markets, and sells probiotic products with documented health benefits. The products are sold through local distribution partners or via own distribution in over 100 markets. The class B share of the Parent Company BioGaia AB is quoted on the Mid Cap segment of Nasdaq Stockholm. biogaiagroup.com

This disclosure contains information that BioGaia is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08:00 a.m. CET on February 7, 2024.