Mercator Medical builds a third single-use glove factory

The Mercator Medical Group, a manufacturer of medical gloves and a distributor of single-use medical materials based in Krakow, announces the expansion of its production capacity in Thailand. Thanks to the new production plant, the Group’s production capacity will exceed 3.9 bn gloves per annum.

”We are very satisfied with the negotiated purchase of new production lines, which will allow the new plant to start very quickly – at the turn of 2021 and 2022 – to take advantage of the high prices of gloves. We can see a huge unsatisfied global demand for single-use gloves that is estimated at over 200 bn pieces per annum, i.e. 40% of current global production capacity. Stock levels in all countries also remain critically low, so we expect a good economic trend,” comments dr Wiesław Żyznowski, President of the Management Board of Mercator Medical S.A.

”The new production plant is the first big part of our 2021+ development strategy. We will announce further parts successively. I can assure that we are working on large projects that significantly increase the business potential of the Mercator Medical Group in many directions,” adds President Żyznowski.

The new production plant will be built on the site owned by the Thai company of the Mercator Medical Group, where two plants with the total manufacturing capacity of over 3 bn gloves per annum already operate. The new factory will be dedicated to the production of high-margin industrial gloves and will produce over 0.8 bn gloves per annum, and the total production capacity of the Group will exceed 3.9 bn gloves per annum.

“The investment will be worth around PLN 150 million and we will finance it fully from our own funds. At the end of Q3 2020, we repaid all investment loans (PLN 75.5 million); at the end of Q4 2020, we had over PLN 0.5 billion in net cash. We are ready for investments, and our potential is supported also by profits generated on a running basis,” stresses Witold Kruszewski, Member of the Management Board for Finance at Mercator Medical S.A.

Preliminary estimated results for Q4 2020 suggest an increase of sales to over PLN 654 million (5 times more year-to-year), which helped to reach record values of EBITDA (PLN 414 million) and net profit (PLN 370 million). The Company is setting ambitious goals also for further quarters.

It is worth noting that as a result of the growing interest of investors, shares of Mercator Medical advanced to the mWIG40 index in June 2020, and the company’s securities futures have been traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since October. Since December, the company has also been included in the MSCI Small Caps index. Stock analysts indicate Mercator Medical as a candidate for the Polish WIG20 index in the perspective of subsequent index composition revisions. Moreover, the Mercator Medical Group is recognised and appreciated in many competitions and contests, where its dynamic business growth, geographical expansion and strong increase of capitalisation at the WSE are emphasised. The “Forbes” Family Ambassador of the Year (Rodzinny Ambasador Roku) title was awarded to Mercator Medical and received by dr Wiesław Żyznowski, the founder and the president of the company. Mercator Medical was also awarded a distinction in the Foreign Investment Pioneer (Pionier Inwestycji Zagranicznych) category of the competition “Polish Company – International Champion” (Polska Firma – Międzynarodowy Czempion) organised by PwC Polska and Puls Biznesu. The company debuted in the 22^nd edition of the “Lista 500” ranking compiled by Rzeczpospolita and received the Eagle of the Republic award (Orzeł Rzeczpospolitej) in the Debut category; in addition, it was awarded the Investor Without Borders title (Inwestor bez granic) granted annually as part of the European Economic Congress in Katowice to the most effective Polish investors expanding internationally.

At the same time, since the beginning of the pandemic, Mercator Medical has been actively involved in the fight against COVID-19 by donating personal protective equipment from its own portfolio to numerous medical and care facilities. To date, Mercator Medical has already donated over 1.6 million examination gloves and 50,000 face masks to almost 60 different institutions, mainly hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and foundations, as well as to the Police Headquarters, the Material Reserves Agency and the Ministry of Health. At present, the company is carrying out the #TogetherAgainstTheVirus (#WspólniePrzeciwWirusowi) campaign to support medical and care facilities by donating personal protective equipment from its own portfolio.