Neuca believes that it has strong foundations to improve its results in y/y terms in 2023 and the lack of a higher official wholesale margin will not prevent it, CEO Piotr Sucharski said.
“When planning the achievement of results this year, we did not assume an increase in the margin [in the Reimbursement Act], and we plan to achieve results at the level or even higher than last year – this is a constant assumption. We see potential in our capabilities in terms of market position and growth potential. […] All this gives us stability and certainty when it comes to the foundations for both higher sales and nominally higher margins in the entire capital group,” Sucharski said during the press conference.
“We see potential for growth in every aspect of our business, and this margin factor – as far as the act is concerned – is not significant enough not to remain with this certainty,” he added.
Earlier, during the conference, he said that the company was still “crossing its fingers” for the adoption of the law on drug reimbursement, but “without the optimism as in previous months.”
“We are not optimistic about passing this law – because we have less and less time until the elections – at least before the elections. This is bad news for the industry, maybe not the worst for us, but certainly bad for small and medium-sized distributors who are already operating on the verge of profitability, and also for many small and medium-sized independent pharmacies. The lack of a higher margin is bad news,” said Sucharski.
In the commentary to the company’s results for the first quarter, he wrote, among others: that the Ministry of Health presented the first version of the law almost 2 years ago. It proposed, among other things, raising the official wholesale margin on the official selling price from 5% to 6% and a new margin table for pharmacies. According to him, controversies and disputes surrounding the proposed law continue. Although on April 21, the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers finished work on the draft, it is not certain whether the amendment will be carried out in this term of office of the Sejm, even in a truncated form.
The Neuca Group is a market leader in the wholesale of medicines. The total share of the Neuca group companies in the domestic pharmaceutical wholesale market in Q4 2022 was 31.6%. The Group is also developing a network of medical clinics, is an expert in the clinical trials segment, implements telemedicine projects and invests in health insurance. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and is included in the mWIG40 index.