By Modupe Gbadeyanka
United Kingdom’s drugs manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, has revealed that it plans to broaden its range of health-care products and widen distribution so as to boost sales in Nigeria.
The company disclosed that this became necessary after the disposal of its soft drinks business to Japan’s Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd, which slashed its revenue.
To achieve its goal, the company said it will now sell new variants of brands such as Panadol painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste in Nigeria from 2017.
According to Bloomberg, Glaxo Nigeria is mapping out a new phase of growth after selling the local rights to Lucozade and Ribena to focus on health care and to reduce the need for the US dollars, which has affected many firms in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview at its office in Lagos, Managing Director of Glaxo Nigeria, Mr Dayanand Sriram the company will also ramp up the effort to boost sales of Glaxo’s pharmaceutical products.
“Half the revenue has gone,” Sriram said. “We hope to build the consumer healthcare portfolio aggressively in the next three to five years.”
Glaxo Nigeria plans to buy more raw materials and packaging products locally to further reduce the need for foreign currency and plans to manufacture Sensodyne and the Cold and Catarrh variant of Panadol in the country next year, he said.
Recall that Glaxo Nigeria reported a loss of N4 billion for the nine months in September 2016.