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Successful financial year 2016 for Boehringer Ingelheim
• Net sales rise to some 15.9 billion euros
(currency-adjusted: +7.3 per cent; in euro terms: +7.1 per cent)
• Operating income improves to around 2.9 billion euros
• Corporate strategy successfully implemented
• In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) achieved overall 16% growth, 15 Product launches and 20 market authorization.
• Strongest Countries performance are United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia (KSA)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – The research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim can look back on a successful financial year. Net sales increased in all businesses. At the same time, Boehringer Ingelheim completed the transformation of the company as planned in 2016, and will in future focus on human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. “Both our human pharmaceuticals as well as our animal health medications contributed to our positive business performance with good growth rates,” explained Hubertus von Baumbach, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors, at the annual press conference today. “We look to the future with confidence – especially after successfully completing the transformation of our business.”
In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim generated net sales of around 15.9 billion euros, representing an increase of 7.3 per cent in currency-adjusted terms (+7.1 per cent in euro terms). Since operating income improved by 27 per cent to around 2.9 billion euros, the return on net sales came to 18.1 per cent. Boehringer Ingelheim in 2016 employed an average of almost 45,700 people around the world. The acquisition of Sanofi’s animal health business, Merial, on 1 January 2017 as part of a business swap increased the workforce to some 50,000.
Moreover, Enrique Manzoni, Regional Managing Director – Middle East, Turkey, Africa (META) at Boehringer Ingelheim said, “Our financial results across the MENA region reflect the company’s continued efforts to deliver innovative initiatives and solutions that cater to serving patients and achieving better treatment outcomes in different therapeutic areas that we operate in. This has been reflected in the number of product launches we were able to deliver in 2016 which reached more than 15 along with more than 20 market authorizations for new innovative medications”.
“The region’s pharmaceutical sector continues to provide more robust opportunities for growth and is a huge focus for our business. It is poised for more development potentials, and we will continue becoming part of its success story,“ added Manzoni.
In addition, Christoph Raab, Head of Finance and Administration at Boehringer Ingelheim META further noted “In 2016, we achieved a 16% sales growth across the MENA region. Top performing markets included Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates with strong growth rates.“
“During the past year, the company drove a number of strategic directions throughout the region, including the geographic expansion in the region, inauguration of the new regional office in Dubai, new product launches, local manufacturing agreement in Algeria with Biopharm for technology transfer as well as education investments within different disease areas as we believe this is our commitmment for healthier socities,“ added Raab.
Extensive transformation concluded
Boehringer Ingelheim had been working intensively on a comprehensive transformation of the company for more than two years. The integration of Merial was an important milestone. The combined animal health business is the only European company of this size in the international competitive environment. “Our aim is to preserve what’s best about the two organisations while also building on our common strengths, experiences and capabilities,” said von Baumbach. Boehringer Ingelheim’s new animal health business is the market leader in antiparasitic medicines and vaccines for livestock and pets.
Human pharmaceuticals: market launches and high levels of investment in R&D
In the area of human pharmaceuticals, the company will work on developing further significant innovations in the therapeutic areas of respiratory diseases, cardio-metabolic diseases, oncology, and diseases of the central nervous system as well as immunology. In the medium term, for example, Boehringer Ingelheim is examining new indications of treatment for our diabetes drugs, In addition to new studies started this year. In the therapeutic area oncology, the company is examining the effectiveness of its treatment of mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the pleura caused by asbestos.
Over the longer term, Boehringer Ingelheim is increasingly turning to partnerships with universities, scientific institutes and biotech companies. “Our commitment to research and development is an important pillar of our strategy,” von Baumbach confirmed. In 2016, the company increased its research and development expenses once again by 4 per cent to some 3.1 billion euros.
Net sales growth in all businesses
Boehringer Ingelheim experienced growth across all of its business areas last year. “The increase in net sales in 2016 exceeded our expectations,” Simone Menne, Member of the Board of Managing Directors responsible for Finance, underlined. “This was due to the successful placement of our innovative products and to the good market position of our established medicines.” Furthermore, the receipt of a payment agreed within the scope of a cooperation with AbbVie in the field of immune diseases contributed to this good performance.
Overall, net sales of prescription medicines – Boehringer Ingelheim’s largest business – increased by 7.4 per cent in currency- adjusted terms to around 12 billion euros (+7.5 per cent in euro terms). With net sales of just under 3 billion euros, the respiratory medication for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remains the best-selling medicine.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s total net sales for 2016 do not include the net sales of Sanofi’s animal health business, as it was only integrated as of 1 January 2017. Boehringer Ingelheim generated around 1.5 billion euros in net sales from its traditional animal health portfolio in 2016, accounting for more than 9 per cent of its total net sales.
With biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing Boehringer Ingelheim last year generated net sales of 613 million euros. Growth amounted to 6.4 per cent.
The consumer health care business contributed to the company’s net sales for the last time in 2016, as it became part of Sanofi on 1 January 2017. Boehringer Ingelheim generated net sales of around 1.6 billion euros in this area last year, accounting for almost ten per cent of its total net sales.
Outlook for 2017
For the current year, Boehringer Ingelheim is expecting a considerable year-on-year increase in currency-adjusted net sales. The integration of the new animal health business will play a key role here.
In 2017, the company is expecting 38 authorizations throughout the wider region. “We will continue to build on our strategic initiatives across the region, and drive our commitment to achieving stronger patient outcomes,” concluded Manzoni.
Further information on the 2016 financial year is available for download from the Boehringer Ingelheim website at https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/news/annual_press_conference.
• Annual Report 2016:
http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com
The Annual Report is also available as a pdf in our corporation app (for iPad and Android tablets) on the App Store and at Google Play.
• Keynote speeches and presentations from the Annual Press Conference 2017:
https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/news/annual_press_conference
Boehringer Ingelheim
Innovative medicines for people and animals have for more than 130 years been what the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim stands for. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies and to this day remains family-owned. Day by day, some 50,000 employees create value through innovation for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of around 15.9 billion euros. With more than three billion euros, R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.6 per cent of net sales.
Social responsibility comes naturally to Boehringer Ingelheim. That is why the company is involved in social projects such as the “Making More Health” initiative. Boehringer Ingelheim also actively promotes workforce diversity and benefits from its employees’ different experiences and skills. Furthermore, the focus is on environmental protection and sustainability in everything the company does.
More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
© Press Release 2017
