Steady growth and progress towards long-term goals

In the first quarter, Oriola’s net sales grew by 19% to EUR 447 million, driven by both Distribution and Wholesale segments. Sales margin was EUR 41.3 (39.7) million, with improvement supported by the Distribution segment. The adjusted EBITDA was EUR 7.5 (7.7) million, reflecting a decrease compared with the previous year, primarily due to increased operating expenses. The higher costs resulted from planned investments in wholesale growth, aligned with our refined strategy. Additionally, costs were negatively impacted by customer ordering pattern and earlier vaccine deliveries in Sweden, which this year began already in the first quarter.

In the Distribution segment, net sales grew by 22% to EUR 359 million. Organic growth was 8% and supported by solid volumes in the Swedish distribution business, while the weak market situation affected sales in Finland. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 7.1 (6.3) million, with an improvement that reflects the positive impact from net sales growth and a favourable product mix, offsetting higher operating expenses. During the start of this year, we successfully onboarded new customers. These partnerships reflect our strengths in advanced logistics capabilities and a cross-market presence. We continue to enhance customer centricity to build strong partnerships with both existing and new customers. Another important focus area is to develop our capabilities and service portfolio ahead of the planned pharmacy market deregulation in Finland.

In the Wholesale segment, net sales grew by 9% to EUR 88 million. Growth was driven by the Swedish wholesale business, while sales in Finland was impacted by the weak market situation and strikes in the retail sector. Adjusted EBITDA declined to EUR 2.4 (3.6) million. Decline in profitability was related to increased operating expenses and an unfavourable product mix. During the first quarter, we took important steps to accelerate and build upon our cross-market presence. We have continued to expand our portfolio and deepen collaboration with our e-com customers across our markets. In Finland, we have also strengthened our focus on the retail channel and successfully gained new retail channel customers. In advisory business, we strengthened our Nordic footprint in medical information and patient support programmes by acquiring MedInfo in Denmark and we have continued to successfully expand our data-driven service, Oriola Insights, both of which support our efforts to grow the advisory business. 

Staying close to our customers, listening to their needs and growing together with them as partners is one of our strategic targets. Our focus on enhancing customer centricity has provided good results, with customer satisfaction consistently improving and recently reaching an all-time high. Regularly measuring and monitoring our long-term success in this area is crucial, as it provides valuable insights to help us continuously improve and become better.

Our strategic investment to renew Oriola’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) and WMS (warehouse management systems) has proceeded according to plan. As the first deployment in Sweden approaches, the project has entered the build phase.

During the first quarter, we received positive news about the approval of the appeal against the Swedish Competition Authority’s prohibition to the sale of Svensk dos AB to Apotekstjänst Sverige AB. This allowed us to proceed with and finally complete the long sales process on 1 April 2025.

In the joint venture company, Kronans Apotek, e-commerce performance continued strong with double-digit growth in Q1, further improving the e-commerce footprint. Also, the brick-and-mortar operation grew sales in Q1, albeit at a more moderate pace. The growth in both channels resulted in Kronans Apotek improving market share versus last quarter. During Q1, Kronans Apotek also achieved major milestones in the integration with merging into one company, introducing joint systems and progressing with the ERP integration.

I am pleased with our sales and sales margin development in the first quarter, however, particularly due to planned investments in wholesale growth, our cost base has increased from last year. It is important that we, across the company, remain cost conscious and focused on executing our refined strategy. I want to thank everyone at Oriola for their contributions at the start of this year and their continued commitment and hard work.

Katarina Gabrielson is Oriola’s CEO. This text was published in the Interim Report January-March 2025 on 29 April 2025. The complete report can be downloaded from the link below.