Significant earnings improvement in 2023; e-prescription is standard in Germany – Biotech Investments

Frauenfeld, 21 March 2024

Press release

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Significant earnings improvement in 2023; e-prescription is standard in Germany

• Revenue and earnings targets for 2023 achieved
• Inflection point reached in terms of revenue and active customer base
• Break-even programme successfully continued and basis for sustainable profitability strengthened
• Fully digital redemption channel for e-prescriptions confirmed by gematik
• Outlook: External revenue growth of over 10 per cent and improvement in adjusted EBITDA to between CHF 0 million and minus CHF 35 million

DocMorris successfully continued its break-even programme in 2023. By increasing the gross margin, productivity and marketing efficiency as well as structural cost savings, adjusted EBITDA improved significantly by CHF 50.6 million to minus CHF 34.9 million (continuing operations, i.e. excluding the Swiss business). This means DocMorris reached its targets for 2023. At the end of the year, the number of active customers rose to 9.1 million^[1]. External revenue[2] amounted to CHF 1,037.5 million, down 7.4 per cent in local currency terms compared to the previous year. This was at the upper end of the expectations set out in October 2023. DocMorris reached the inflection point in the second half of 2023 and strengthened its basis for sustainable, profitable growth.

Positive earnings trend in the segments
In Germany, the focus on profitable customer groups led to a decline in external revenue of 7.2 per cent. In the fourth quarter the inflection point was reached thanks to intensified customer loyalty measures. For 2023 as a whole, DocMorris generated external revenue of CHF 975.4 million in Germany. The break-even programme resulted in an adjusted EBITDA improvement of CHF 41.7 million to minus CHF 31.8 million. In Spain and France, DocMorris focused on creating an even better customer experience to attract more profitable customers. The company generated revenue of CHF 62.1 million in the Europe segment in 2023. As a consequence of the break-even programme, adjusted EBITDA improved by CHF 8.9 million to minus CHF 3.0 million.

Capital structure significantly strengthened and strategy secured
As part of the sale of the Swiss business to Migros subsidiary Medbase in May 2023, Zur Rose Group AG changed its name to DocMorris AG. With the cash inflow from this transaction totalling around CHF 360 million (including an earn-out of CHF 47 million), DocMorris secured its strategy in order to be optimally positioned for e-prescriptions in Germany and digitalisation in healthcare. The equity ratio increased a substantial 17.8 percentage points year-on-year to 49.7 per cent at the end of 2023. The sale of the property in Frauenfeld, which is expected to be completed by the middle of the year, will further strengthen liquidity.

Fully digital channel to redeem e-prescriptions for online pharmacies
Since 1 January 2024, e-prescriptions have been mandatory for publicly insured residents in Germany. The electronic prescription process has quickly become the new standard: To date, more than 84,000^[3] medical institutions – around 85 per cent of all institutions – have issued more than 115 million³ electronic prescriptions. These numbers will continue to rise over the course of 2024. In addition, a fully digital redemption channel with enormous market potential will soon be available. The eHealth CardLink, based on an innovation from DocMorris, is an independent product that integrates with the telematics infrastructure, which enables mobile use of an electronic healthcare card (eGK) without a PIN thanks to NFC (near field communication) technology. Patients can use it to view and redeem their e-prescriptions on their smartphone from anywhere. The final eHealth-CardLink specifications were published by gematik this week. In response, DocMorris handed in its request for certification. This simple, convenient and secure redemption channel is also integrated in the DocMorris app. It will be activated as soon as certification has been granted by the gematik; which is expected shortly. DocMorris launched a cross-media marketing campaign based on the “Gesundberg” family to coincide with the launch of electronic prescriptions.

CO2 emissions cut by 13 per cent
DocMorris made further substantial progress as reflected in its third Sustainability Report 2023. The company achieved its targets in its four strategic pillars – Healthier People, Sustainable Planet, Caring Company and Reliable Partnerships – and set ambitious new targets for 2024. In 2023 DocMorris cut CO2 emissions by 13 per cent, reduced its already low gender pay gap, raised awareness of cybersecurity among employees and implemented a Supplier Code of Conduct.

Outlook
The ramp-up of the prescription medication business in Germany is not yet fully predictable. By way of indication, for the 2024 financial year DocMorris is expecting:

• an increase of more than 10 per cent in external revenue (including e-prescriptions);
• an improvement in adjusted EBITDA to between CHF 0 million and minus CHF 35 million (including e-prescriptions);
• capital expenditure of CHF 30 million to CHF 40 million.

In the medium term, an adjusted EBITDA margin of 8 per cent remains the target.

The Annual Report and Sustainability Report can be viewed online here and downloaded as a PDF in the download center.

1) Restated due to the disposal of the Swiss business.

2) External revenue consists of the consolidated revenue of DocMorris plus online revenues of pharmacies supplied by DocMorris, less the consolidated revenue from supplying them.

3) Adjusted revenue in 2023 for the payment of performance obligations fulfilled in previous years.

4) Due to the disposal of the Swiss business and for the purpose of comparability, year-on-year change of revenue in % is calculated based on the adjusted sales for 2021 (excl. Switzerland segment).

At 11 a.m. CET today there will be a conference call in English for analysts and the media.

Investors and analyst contact
Dr. Daniel Grigat, Head of Investor Relations & Sustainability
Email: ir@docmorris.com, phone: +41 52 560 58 10

Media contact
Torben Bonnke, Director Communications
Email: media@docmorris.com, phone: +49 171 864 888 1

Agenda

DocMorris
The Swiss-based DocMorris AG is a leading company in the fields of online pharmacy, marketplace and professional healthcare with strong brands in Germany and other European countries. Deliveries are mainly from the highly automated logistics centre in Heerlen, the Netherlands, with a capacity of over 27 million parcels per year. In Spain and France, the company operates the leading marketplace for health and personal care products in Southern Europe. With its business model, DocMorris offers its patients, customers and partners a broad range of products and services. In doing so, DocMorris is pursuing its vision of creating a digital health ecosystem for everyone to manage their health in one click. The company was renamed from Zur Rose Group AG to DocMorris AG in May 2023 after the Swiss business was sold to Migros/Medbase. Excluding the Swiss business, about 1,600 employees in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Switzerland generated an external revenue of CHF 1,038 million serving over 9 million active customers in 2023. The shares of DocMorris AG are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (securities number 4261528, ISIN CH0042615283, ticker DOCM). For further information, please visit corporate.docmorris.com.

^[1] Customers supplied by DocMorris, either directly or through its partners.

^[2] External revenue consists of the consolidated revenue of DocMorris plus online revenues of pharmacies supplied by DocMorris, less the consolidated revenue from supplying them.

^[3] Source: gematik