On the afternoon of June 14, another member of FIT Group, Cuu Long Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (DCL), held the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders AGM in 2022 to approve the production and business target strategy in 2022.
2021 – The year of overcoming difficulties of DCL
In 2021, the Covid-19 epidemic re-emerged across the country, seriously affecting the production and business situation in general and DCL in particular. At the AGM in 2022, DCL’s Board of management said that due to social distancing regulations and implementation of “3 on site”, the Company sometimes arranges production at less than 30% of capacity and focuses on producing key products, but net revenue still remains steady at VND 704 billion, an increase of 4.83%. Notably, pre-tax profit grew well to over VND 110 billion, an increase of 28.32% compared to the same period.
In the pharmaceutical segment, in 2021, although it only produces 715 million units of products, not increasing compared to the same period last year, DCL focuses on developing and manufacturing key product groups with high value such as: Cardiovascular drugs, antidiabetic drugs, completely new generation antiviral drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-epidemic drugs, contributing to increase revenue and profit.
In addition to outstanding products with high growth potential such as Panalgan; CALFIZZ; ALUINUM® Gel…, DCL currently owns 2 copyrights to manufacture cancer drugs, which are in high demand in Vietnam in particular and the world in general. By the end of 2021, Benovas – a subsidiary of DCL and Pharmascience of Canada has officially become a comprehensive strategic partner. Accordingly, becoming a strategic partner of Pharmascience will help Benovas diversify its product portfolio. This is an advantage for Benovas to accelerate the process of accessing and expanding the market, helping patients easily access quality medicines at affordable prices.
In the capsule production segment, in 2021, DCL has put into commercial operation 4 production lines of Capsule 4 factory with 100% capacity since the end of the third quarter, bringing the total volume of capsule production to nearly 8 billion capsules/ year. Currently, DCL is the only unit in Vietnam that can produce many types of high-quality Capsules with modern Canadian production lines. In the coming time, DCL will continue to invest in the No. 5 Capsule factory to meet the increasing demand of the market.
In the field of medical supplies, due to the fact that the product volume of the existing factory has not met the market’s demand, in March 2021, DCL started construction of Benovas Medical Equipment Factory in Vinh Long province. Factory construction project has a total investment capital of about USD 15 million. The factory is built into 2 phases, phase 1 has a designed capacity of 35 million products/month; Phase 2 has a capacity of 20 million products/month with products including: Syringes, needles, infusion lines, butterfly needles, intravenous needles… These products are manufactured on modern, automated production lines that meet European CE and US FDA standards.
Target to expand production, increase profits in 2022
In 2022, DCL sets a revenue target of more than VND 845 billion, profit before tax is nearly VND 134 billion, an increase of 21% compared to 2021. In which, DCL is carrying out investment procedures to build a cancer drug factory by 2022, and has a plan to distribute 2 cancer drug products. For R&D activities, it focuses on research and development of 3 bioequivalent products, focuses on building strategic products with high sales and profits, few competitors with certification of drug quality.
In addition, in the capsule production segment, DCL focuses on improving product quality (improving gloss, stability, solubility) to meet the requirements of fastidious customers, aiming to expand the market share; coordinates with export partners to seek more capsule export markets in ASEAN region such as Laos, Myanmar, invests in 4 more production lines for Empty Hard Capsule, increases capacity by 2 billion capsules/year. It is expected to be implemented in the third quarter of 2022 and put into operation in the first quarter of 2023.
Answering questions from shareholders at the General Meeting of Shareholders, Chairman of the Board of Management Nguyen Van Sang affirmed that the new staff can fully handle the company’s overall growth goals as well as ensure the implementation of growth plans as set out by the General Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Sang also explained that the reason for not sharing profits in 2021 is to keep it in order to focus financial resources on investment in expanding production and business, meeting investment capital needs, and increasing the scale of production of pharmaceutical products meeting quality standards, thereby increasing value and long-term profit for enterprises and shareholders.
