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Record year for Tamro
It was once again a record year for Tamro in many respects. The strong market development supported the fine work done in our business units. Competition was no less fierce than before but we were able to further improve our operations and meet our very high targets.
The objective of our investments in the past year was to create smoother processes and ensure even better quality. A major pre-wholesale consolidation took place in Denmark, where a new warehouse was fully taken into operation to support the pharmaceutical industry. The upgrade of our Tampere distribution centre in Finland was implemented successfully. Our retail investments allow us to secure our market position by operating an ever larger number of modern pharmacies in our markets.
Unfortunately, in some of our markets a few pharmacies could not be opened due to the lack of skilled pharmacists. We are trying to overcome this challenge by increasing international recruitment. Tamro offers new recruits and their families a comprehensive training package including language and cultural training. Our pharmacists serve customers that are accustomed to the highest level of professional service.
I’m very proud to see how our customer services are continuing to develop positively. Customers are in the very nucleus of everything we do. Extensive surveys are conducted in all our markets to ensure that we are attuned to our customers’ and suppliers’ needs at all times. The results of the surveys confirm our high level of service quality. Not only is Tamro the leading player as regards volume, it is also recognised as a preferred partner able to meet the high expectations of customers and suppliers.
Multi-dose dispensing offers patients better safety and convenience and represents an important growth opportunity for Tamro. In Sweden, 180,000 patients already use multidose services, and we expect the institutional and private markets in Norway to have up to 100,000 patients who could benefit from the system. Tamro built a new state-of-the-art multidose factory in Oslo during 2007, and production began in March 2008.
In Poland, much remains to be done and we weren’t yet able to live up to our ambitions. Poland is a huge market with tremendous potential, but Tamro’s market position there is weak. We hope to turn this situation around during the current financial period by doing our utmost to reach a satisfactory result and build a more sustainable platform for the future.
The decision of the Swedish government to dismantle the retail monopoly held by the state-owned Apoteket AB was the single most important event during the business year 2007/08. Sweden is our largest market after Poland, and we deliver daily approximately 75% of all volumes to Sweden’s 900 pharmacies. Tamro is determined to have a strong position also after the scheduled liberalisation on 1 January 2009.
However, we cannot roll out our plans until the legislators have finished their work. There are still important decisions to be made. Flexibility will be needed to adjust our operations to the changing business environment. As a leading distributor in the market, Tamro is obliged to continue to serve Sweden in the current single channel system, and at the same time we need to prepare for a future where wholesalers need to carry a full product assortment. This is a tremendous challenge, and one that we will tackle to the best of our ability. |
