Just received my Provalis Annual Report in the mail today. I emailed my request to the company last Wednesday and it's here already, all the way from jolly old England.
First impression, was one of confusion, as it seems Provalis has their fingers in an infinite number of areas. It's hard to tell what exactly the company's main product or area of specialty is, by a brief browse through the AR. This fact gets addressed throughout, however, in the companies mission to focus strategic direction. As the company evolves out the ashes of the former Cortecs Pharma, house cleaning of its products, brands, and R&D appears to be of utmost importance. Even though this report was printed last fall, it's sticking out between the lines all over, that Pennsaid was about to take a lead role in the strategic re-alignment of this company. I would bet the partnership of Dimethaid and Provalis was decided a long time ago.
Another thing that immediately caught my attention is that European annual reports are written quite differently from North American ones. You'll have to see it to know what I mean.
There are a couple interesting tidbits from the AR, I thought I would share. First off, there is a CV for Dr. Phil Gould (quoted in the Dimethaid NR). An interesting background indeed:
Dr. Phil Gould (aged 46)
Dr. Gould joined the group in January 1998 as Director of Research and Development and in November 1998 he was appointed to the Board as acting Chief Executive Officer, the position being confirmed in January 1999.
Prior to joining the Group, he was head of new product introduction and product technology at Glaxo Wellcome UK. Dr. Gould became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1990. He has a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry and PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Hull and has published widely on drug delivery systems. He is also Honorary Professor of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy, John Moore's University, Liverpool. Dr. Gould is the inventor of four patented pharmaceutical systems including a novel suppository formulation, a novel wound treatment composition, a controlled release drug delivery system and a novel process to stabalise a hydrolytically unstable anti-cancer drug. Before Glaxo Wellcome, Dr. Gould worked at a number of other pharmaceutical companies, including Reckitt & Colman, Pfizer Central Research and Lederle Laboratories.
On their existing sales force (at time of printing):
"For an emerging healthcare company, Provalis has a valuable asset in its Healthcare division. It is now a mature commercial organization, backed by a regionally supported sales and marketing staff in the UK. It has an established capability in marketing and sales of licensed products adding value via commercial strategy, brand management, UK registration support and phase 4 medical marketing trials"
. . . .
"A major change of strategy at the beginning of the year saw the successful disposal of the over the counter medicines and food supplement products business. The Wrexham manufacturing site was then closed, allowing a focus of resources on the prescription pharmaceuticals business."
. . . .
"The division now has 28 territory managers, 3 regional managers and a national accounts manager. The sales force covers all the cities and key hospital groups in the UK including a recently appointed territory manager for Northern Ireland"
I have not yet had the opportunity to review the financials in the AR. Frankly, accounting is not one of my strengths, though I will review it later and see if anything jumps out.
That's all for initial impressions.
Joe |
