Santo Antônio de Jesus (BA) – Natulab, a pharmaceutical specializing in medicines that do not need medical and herbal prescription, is about to complete “a dog year” next April.
These are the words of the company’s own chairman of the company, but not in the sense of a period of difficulties, clarifies Ronnie Motta. It refers to the speed of Natulab’s transformations, a business of over two decades in a period of months. The pharmacist was able to positive her equity, which had been in the negative for years, and considerably reduced her nine -digit debt.
O chairman left the CEO Position at Bombril And it came to Natulab after the family office which is a partner, or Pettra, hired the pharmaceutical. The fund bought the participation of the homeland, which had 80% of Natulab’s capital, and soon began to stop all the business. This is because the minorities were forced to sell their remaining share (as the clause of drag along).
It was not a peaceful exitit is noteworthy: these partners, Italians who held 20% of Natulab, even disputed the sale to the Pettra in court, because they did not agree with the terms of the transaction.
How the buyer acquired a deficient company and had to inject resources to keep the business on his feet, the Payment to former shareholders will be made in a phased manner from 2027 – The value was not revealed. In New Natulab, Ronnie Motta co-management of the company’s operations together with the CEO, Guilherme Maradei, an executive with extensive experience in multinationals and who joined the pharmacist in 2021.
Fund injected resources in Natulab
Pettra made a contribution of approximately R $ 180 million from Natulab. The funds gave the company’s “box” and were mainly directed to the recomposition of inventories and increased staff by 10%. Capital injection also enabled the pharmacist to reperfilage debt, more “cheap” and elongated.
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“The debt was very expensive for the company’s risk, which came with Ebitda near Zero in recent years,” Motta told Infomoney.
Pettra took Natulab with a debt of $ 240 million. Today the figure was reduced to less than half, according to the chairman. Because it is not an open company, the numbers are not public, but Motta guarantees that Natulab ended 2024 “with the largest EBITDA in its history.”
Revenue, he said, grew 35%, even though the number of units sold was kept at the same level as 2023 by 150 million. Increased revenue was not a problem for Natulab – the company even lived a more demand scenario than supply. The margins, however, did not follow this growth.
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“We grew up adapting and monetizing the portfolio,” explains Motta. “We surgically looked at each sales order, we change discounts. We defined that we could not sell anything with a negative margin. ”
Search for greater entry into large pharmacies
Manufacturer of the Seakalm and Dipyrone Maxalgina herbal soothing, Natulab has 98 active brands and provides medicines and supplements for 95% of Brazilian pharmacies. Although they are on the shelves of large networks, they still account for only 20% of the company’s revenue. The “thick” of revenues comes from the small – and Natulab is looking for a balance in this account.
For this, the pharmacist has invested more in marketing, buying advertising spaces on open TV shows and other media channels offline e online. The company understands that consumer of large drugstores seek brands top of mind.
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Grow in the largest networks, says the chairmanhelps the laboratory gain notoriety, which also generates value for the company as outsourced. Today, Natulab produces medicines for large competitors – there are seven customers so far, five contracts signed last year.
“Many companies seek us because our production cost is cheaper. Our productive capacity is great and we have power of scale, because we sell a lot, ”explains Motta. THE Infomoney It found that Natulab’s revenue by 2023 was $ 500 million.
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As Natulab produces
The report of Infomoney He saw crowded bookshelves at the company’s distribution center in Santo Antônio de Jesus (BA). The structure operates today, with 80% of its occupation – four times more than a year before.
Natulab is also expanding its productive capacity, currently in 240 million units, in both factories, also located in the municipality of Bahia interior. The drug plant is under construction to accommodate a new machinery, capable of producing twice the liquid medicine that current equipment produces. In this investment, the pharmacist disbursed $ 50 million.
The supplements factory, from which vitamin and vitamin complexes come from, should begin to operate new shifts. The front accounts for a smaller slice of company revenues, around 20%. Natulab intends to reactivate creatine marks and whey protein that were dormant in the company’s portfolio.
“It’s a competitive market. Unlike the drug, which can only be sold with a pharmacist, the supplement can be sold on various sales channels, ”says Motta.
With all this portfolio production and expansion reinforcement, the company aims at a production of 180 million to 200 million units in 2025. Natulab also studies dividing companies into different business units and even entering new categories – such as cosmetics and Personal hygiene. Also does not rule out acquisitions or joint ventures.
