80 Years of Innovation Drives Continued Success at Merck’s Consumer Health Business

Merck’s Consumer Health business has finished 2014 with robust financial performance. Entering 2015, this year marks 80 years since the launch of Merck’s Seven Seas brand in the UK, reflecting the firm’s rich heritage of product innovation and development.

80 years of success

2015 is exactly 80 years since the launch of Merck’s Seven Seas franchise – a company originally created by a consortium of trawler owners in East Yorkshire, England to produce fish oil supplements on highest purity levels. Since its foundation in 1935, Seven Seas has become a household name, supplying a diverse range of products in more than 100 countries worldwide. The brand continues to innovate and launch even more consumer focused solutions, best demonstrated by the launch of Perfect 7 in fall 2014.

“Innovation has been a consistent force behind Merck Consumer Health’s success, including throughout the 80 years of heritage celebrated this year for Seven Seas.” said Uta Kemmerich-Keil, CEO and President of Merck’s Consumer Health business. “This has been recognized by consumers and we remain committed to meeting changing habits and preferences, as we grow our business in 2015. We are intensively listening to and learning from consumer feedback, as our financial success is reliant on constantly improving our product offer along the consumer’s desires.”

This approach has recently also resulted in external recognition for the Seven Seas brand: Seven Seas Perfect 7, an innovative and unique blend of Omega-3 oils, vitamins and minerals specifically tailored to the nutritional needs of men and women, has received a prestigious Boots Vitamin Award in the UK as the ‘newcomer of the year’ for 2014, reflecting its popularity with consumers.

The award and product performance are indicative of Merck Consumer Health’s approach to innovation. The business is driving this through its new innovation portal, www.merck-consumer-idea.com, where consumers can now provide their thoughts on how future products could help meet their health needs. In the spirit of co-creation, the portal has already begun to capture feedback on how consumers feel that existing products could be tailored more to their needs.

Integration on track

Merck’s Consumer Health business is continuing to also benefit from product integration from Merck Serono, and this year will see the full transfer of the Vitamin D supplement Vigantoletten from Merck Serono to the Consumer Health business. This product, which is also now sold in Germany in an innovative powder format (“Vigantoletten Sticks”), has made a successful transition from the prescription to over-the-counter setting marketing.

Fastest growing Merck division in 2014

In the final quarter of 2014, the Consumer Health division reported organic growth of 6.5% to € 196.9 million compared with the same period in 2013. Key brands driving this growth include Neurobion, Femibion and Floratil; key markets growing well were Brazil, Venezuela and Germany.

For the full year 2014, Consumer Health demonstrated the ongoing success of its consumer-centric business model and the consumerization of the Neurobion and Floratil brands. With organic sales growth of 5.4% up to € 766 million (2013: € 742 million) Consumer Health was the fastest growing division in the Merck Group. EBITDA pre one-time items came in at € 169 million nearly reaching the 2013 earnings level of € 172 million despite significantly higher marketing and sales investments into the strategic brands.

About Merck’s Consumer Health Business

Brands of the Consumer Health business, such as Dolo-Neurobion^®, Neurobion^®, Bion^®, Seven Seas^®, Nasivin^®, and Femibion^® are innovative leaders in key markets, backed by science and trusted by consumers worldwide. The Consumer Health business is with over 2,600 employees globally active in over 40 markets. Since 2014, the portfolio comprises of brands with annual total sales of about $ 1 billion. Consumer Health is a business of the Healthcare business sector within the Merck Group with global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. For more information please go to www.meck-consumer-health.com

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Merck is a leading company for innovative, top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has six businesses – Merck Serono, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Merck Millipore and Performance Materials – and generated sales of around € 11.3 billion in 2014. Around 39,000 employees work for Merck in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to further the success of customers, and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates as EMD Serono, EMD Millipore and EMD Performance Materials.

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Contact information

Merck Consumer Health
Lars Atorf
Phone: +49 6151 856 3114