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Company Profile & History

Company Profile

Goldshield is a marketing-led, British pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company. Growth has been rapid and achieved both organically and through astute product acquisition. The Group has grown to its present size with equity funding of only £1.8 million up to 31 March 1998 having commenced trading in 1991.

The Directors believe that this growth has been driven principally by the Group's marketing skills, customer focus, product ranges and developments, financial controls and extensive staff training. Goldshield aims to service a much broader segment of the pharmaceutical and healthcare markets than many similarly sized pharmaceutical companies. It sells ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals, non-prescription medicines, vitamins, minerals and supplements and a wide range of other healthcare products. To service its customers' needs from the highly regulated to the consumer driven markets, Goldshield operates as two divisions, the Pharmaceutical Division and the Healthcare Division.

Goldshield chooses to market products which match its rigorous marketing and financial return criteria. Product licences and brands, where appropriate, are acquired or, increasingly, developed internally. The Directors consider that opportunities exist to acquire further products and develop product line extensions and new chemical entities which meet the Group's investment criteria.

Pharmaceutical Products

The provision of prescription medicines is supported by a marketing and sales department, a medical and regulatory department, and an operations department which manages the outsourcing of manufacturing.

The growth of the these products has resulted principally from the Directors' policy of acquiring the UK and Irish rights to marketed products with growth potential with the intention that these would generate cash flow to finance further acquisitions and product development programmes. The acquired products have been supplemented, where appropriate, by product line extensions which the Directors consider has led to cost effective and low risk organic growth.

The majority of the products marketed are for the treatment or prevention of chronic or recurrent illnesses. Goldshield does not concentrate on any particular therapeutic area. However, it currently markets products which address indications in three of the largest chronic disease areas: cardiovascular diseases, central nervous system disorders and muscoloskeletal conditions. The Group currently markets a number of pharmaceutical products based on different active compounds all of which are sold under the Group's brands.

The Directors believe that growth has been and will continue to be achieved through the Group's marketing-led approach and its ability to offer a wide range of products. The Directors' intention is therefore to maintain future growth through the pursuit of strategies relating to:

• product acquisition;
• product development; and
• marketing and sales.

Consumer Healthcare Products

The concentration is on the provision of Consumer healthcare products. The Division comprises a marketing department, a data entry and call centre, which is common to both the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Divisions, a product development department and an operations department which manages the outsourcing of manufacturing.

Almost all growth in the Healthcare area has been organic. This is largely due to the time and cost involved in bringing new internally developed healthcare products to the market being significantly lower than those for pharmaceutical products. This has allowed the Healthcare Division's product range to grow rapidly.

The Directors' objectives are to continue to expand the portfolio of healthcare products, both in market sectors where the Group is already prominent and in those where it does not yet have an established market presence.

Currently, the products are principally sold via mail order. It is the Directors' intention to increase the use of multiple channels of distribution and therefore each product range will be tailored accordingly.

The Directors believe that this product portfolio growth has been and will continue to be achieved through the Group's focus on its customers, its marketing-led approach and its ability to offer a wide range of products with a common brand identity.

The Future

Goldshield aims to continue to grow organically, through acquisition and through the formation of strategic alliances. The Group is currently investing heavily in the research and development of new pharmaceutical products. Thus the next few years will see a stream of new Goldshield products coming onto the market. Demand from consumers for quality natural Healthcare products has grown dramatically over the past few years and the indications are that this demand will continue to accelerate in the future. In order to meet this demand, the Healthcare Division is constantly developing new products and creating new distribution channels, which include retail outlets and the Internet. Continued expansion into international markets represents an important plank of the Group's long-term strategy and increased investment in the export side of the business is planned. Goldshield's phenomenal growth since its foundation has been built upon sound commercial and marketing principles. We intend to continue this success in the new century, by remaining true to these fundamental principles.

History

The Group was founded by Ajit Patel, Kirti Patel, and Shane Gogerly, and commenced trading in 1991 with a range of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.

The first pharmaceutical product was acquired from Glaxo in 1992 and there have been subsequent product acquisitions from SmithKline Beecham, Medeva, Warner Lambert, Wyeth and American Home Products.

Between 1991 and 1993, the Group raised equity finance of £1.0 million from individual investors, many of whom are doctors, pharmacists, or from within the pharmaceutical industry. The Group became profitable in the year ended 31 March 1993.

During 1993, the Group started to sell Healthcare products direct to consumers through mail order, and started the development of its own Pharmaceutical products in 1995. It received its first UK marketing authorisation for a pharmaceutical product licensed to and developed by the Group in 1996.

In 1997, the Healthcare Division's distribution and call-centre was opened.

In June 1998, the Group floated on the London Stock exchange.