The latest quarterly report on the global CHC market is now available on the CHC DASHBOARD website, including data & trends on the market’s performance at a global, regional and country level (for all 63 markets) in the year to end-December 2019. Here we highlight some of the key topline trends from this update, selecting one major global development from each of our company, category and brand watch sections.
Company Watch: Stada enters the global Top 20
While the list of global Top 5 CHC marketers remains relatively stable, one company that shot up the global rankings in late 2019 thanks to M&A activity, and now claims the No.11 position worldwide, is Stada. The German marketer agreed two major deals in November 2019 that elevated it into the global Top 20. First, as part of Takeda’s goal to divest around US$10bn in non-core assets, Stada bought around 20 selected OTC and Rx products marketed in Russia, Georgia & CIS countries, for US$660mn. Secondly, Stada entered into an agreement to acquire Walmark from Mid Europa Partners for an undisclosed sum. With global No.9 Takeda reportedly now planning to sell its wholly owned OTC subsidiary, Takeda Consumer Healthcare, Stada may feature soon among the Top 10.
Category Watch: Analgesics already accelerating before Q1
Driven by accelerating growth in North America and Europe in Q4, analgesics recorded an upturn of 4.7% in 2019, ensuring the category’s best performance in three years. This trend looks set to accelerate even further in Q1 2020, with various top marketers reporting very strong analgesics growth for their key brands in the latest quarterly results, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, topical analgesics still grew faster than systemics, though the latter showed the strongest improvement in growth, powered in particular by upturns in USA, Brazil and Germany.
Brand Watch: Vicks and Tylenol race ahead
Only two CHC brands generate more than US$1bn in sales globally – P&G’s global No.1 Vicks and J&J’s global No.2 Tylenol – and both also grew more than twice as fast as the global CHC market overall in 2019. The latest company quarterly results indicate that both brands have shown further acceleration in Q1 2020, driven in particular by gains in North America.
Thank you to everybody who attended Nicholas’ CHC Trends Webinar! If you were unable to join live, you can now purchase a recording of the full discussion, and submit up to 3 questions via email. To find out more or to purchase your copy of the recording, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com
Nicholas Hall Company Blog 