During 2023, the total investment in R&D represented 15% of sales.
EBITDA, which grew by 56% compared to 2022, stands at €109 million.
The HIPRA Group closed the year 2023 with a net turnover of 452 million euros, a 14% increase compared to the previous year. This result is attributed to the strong performance of the Animal Health Division and the Group’s activities in the Human Health sector, both divisions sharing the same goal: improving global health through highly technological and innovative solutions focused on disease prevention and diagnosis.
Despite the rising cost of external financing due to increased interest rates and negative currency exchange differences caused by currency devaluation in some markets outside the European Union, the Group's net profit stands at 51 million euros. Notably, the EBITDA improved by 56% compared to 2022, reaching 109 million euros (24% of sales).
Investment in Facilities
In 2023, the Group's material investments were moderated compared to the previous year, amounting to around 35 million euros. Most of these investments correspond to the first phase of the new HIPRA Campus located in Aiguaviva (Girona, Spain). This new campus will allow HIPRA to expand its Production and Research & Development (R&D) facilities and increase the number of offices to support growth plans for the coming years. It is expected that by the end of 2024, nearly 300 professionals will be working there.
The improvement in operating results and moderation in investments have enabled the Group to reduce its net debt, which stands at 166 million euros, equivalent to 1.5 times EBITDA. In 2023, the total investment in R&D represented 15% of revenue. This strong commitment to R&D is crucial for continuing to provide the market with innovative, high-value-added vaccines, which is one of the keys to HIPRA's growth in recent years.
Solid Development Thanks to Differentiated and Innovative Products
In the Animal Health sector, HIPRA continued to focus its efforts on prevention in 2023, achieving growth in the global market share of livestock vaccines, reaching 8% (up from 7% in 2022). This growth is due to the development of differentiated and highly innovative products and their strong market reception, such as the YURVAC® RHD vaccine, aimed at preventing rabbit haemorrhagic disease, recently launched and recognized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as one of the most innovative vaccines of 2023.
One of the milestones achieved in 2023 by the Human Health Division was the approval of the BIMERVAX® vaccine, HIPRA's COVID-19 vaccine, by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the realization of the first sales. Additionally, due to HIPRA's experience and capabilities in vaccine development and production, the company was chosen by the European Commission as a strategic partner for the EU FAB project. HIPRA is participating in this project by reserving part of its production capacity for the potential production of recombinant protein vaccines.
International Presence
Committed to global health from a one health perspective, HIPRA has a strong international presence with 40 subsidiaries, 3 R&D centres and 6 strategically located production centres in Europe (Spain) and America (Brazil). Additionally, its extensive international distribution network maintains open marketing channels in over 100 countries across all five continents. Thanks to the Group's internationalization, exports continue to increase, reaching 88% worldwide (in 2009, they represented 56% of the Group's total sales).
HIPRA’s talent
The team has continued to grow over the past year and will continue to do so this year, aiming to have the best professionals aligned with the company's values and purpose. As of December 2023, the team comprised 2,477 people (2,421 people the previous year), with total gender parity: 50% men and 50% women (51% men and 49% women in 2022).
Since 2021, the HIPRA Group has been led by a holding company named HIPRA S.A. and organizes its corporate structure according to the activities of each of its companies. The headquarters are located in Amer, Girona (Spain), from where the Group's parent company operates. The same headquarters house Laboratorios Hipra S.A., a single-member company dedicated to production and marketing for the Animal Health Division and production for the Human Health Division; Hipra Scientific S.L.U., focusing on vaccine research and development; and Hipra Human Health S.L.U., exclusively dedicated to the Human Health Division. GoodGut S.L.U., specializing in the prevention of digestive diseases in human health, is another company within the Group and is located at the Girona Science and Technology Park.
Corporate Sustainability Strategy
HIPRA ensures sustainability through its Corporate Sustainability Strategy (CSS), which defines and establishes the company's guidelines for managing and controlling the potential effects of its activities in the coming years.
HIPRA's CSS encompasses three areas: the environment, society and corporate governance. Under these three pillars, the Group undertakes various actions such as reducing water consumption (total water consumption in 2023 was 187,258 m3 compared to 209,503 m3 in 2022); increasing self-consumption of energy through the installation of photovoltaic panels (in 2023, 1,343,000 kWh were produced for self-consumption, 48% more than the previous year); creating the "Speak Up" channel for raising queries and reporting potential ethical irregularities; and implementing protocols and policies to ensure the well-being of HIPRA employees.