Reig Jofre prepares for new purchases in Europe

BarcelonaReig Jofre is preparing for possible new acquisitions, and continues with the formula that worked with the Swedish Bioglan in 2009 or the integration of Natraceutical in 2015. The pharmaceutical shareholders' meeting, of which the founding family holds 63% of the capital, has approved the option to issue new ordinary shares and the possibility of issuing series B for the first time, without voting rights, as well as debt, from bonds to convertible bonds or warrants. All of this is to have "new financing tools" to face possible acquisitions "if they have a strategic fit", according to the company's CEO, Ignasi Biosca, representative of the third family generation. Among the possible options for inorganic growth would be in the international commercial sphere markets where they are not yet present, such as Italy or Germany, or acquisitions to complement their activity where they already operate, such as France, Poland, or the United Kingdom, he added at a meeting with journalists.

It has also left the door open to further reduce the production of antibiotics given the increase in costs that cannot be offset in prices. It does not even rule out the possibility of leaving the business considering its low profitability, he stated. "We must study to what extent it should be maintained," he admitted. The division dedicated to these drugs fell by almost 30%, from 79 million in 2024 to 57 million last year, due to technical stoppages at the Toledo plant and low margins. In any case, the objective is to continue with the policy of focusing on products that yield higher margins, such as biotechnological ones, he assured.

In 2025 the company's priority was to modernize the Toledo center and the current year, make it profitable. This policy is part of the strategy to shift towards products with more added value, both in Toledo and at its Sant Joan Despí plant, where it has also invested in the sterile area, including a new line for injectables and lyophilized products.

The company already has ready the 4,000-square-meter biotechnological active ingredients plant in Sant Quirze del Vallès, to which it has allocated an investment of 6.6 million euros, after acquiring 85% of LeanBio's capital. It is expected that from the fifth year onwards, sales from these facilities will exceed 25 million annually. Biosca, who was accompanied by the founder of LeanBio, Andreu Soldevila, stated that this year they are already "much better prepared" to recover growth. This is reflected, he added, in the operating profit (ebitda) for the first quarter, which reached 10 million, 1% more year-on-year, driven essentially by the growth of the Specialty Pharmacare area.

The board has also approved a flexible dividend (in cash or shares) of 40% of the 2025 profit, amounting to up to two million euros, the distribution of which will be decided at a board meeting in August, Biosca explained.