Mentholatum, Scotland’s most prominent healthcare company, has added 50% to the company’s bottom line since 2007 and made significant advances as a key international healthcare player thanks to a new strategic direction.
Since 2007, when the company acquired Andrew Tasker as the new Managing Director of Mentholatum UK, a new commitment was made by Mr Tasker and the company to:
• direct attention into developing new, innovative, technology driven products
• invest into the company’s existing brands, such as Deep Heat
• develop new international markets
• create a world-class training programme for all staff to achieve gold standard working practices and as a result attract the very best talent
Managing Director of Mentholatum, Andrew Tasker, notes: “When I joined Mentholatum, I knew it had great potential to become even more of a world-class healthcare company, proud to produce unique, effective and clinically proven healthcare products. With already recogniseable first-class healthcare brands, my initial task was to expand production and invest in regulation and licensing, and focus on innovation and technology. This included forming a strong rapport with Government to gain support for Mentholatum’s science projects and bring the company into the 21st Century.”
“New product development is now a passion at Mentholatum. Over the last few years we have been focussing on the very latest science technologies and medical discovery approaches, rather than old line extensions, which the rest of the OTC market sector is guilty of. From no product innovation in past years, to eight new products being developed in the last year alone, we have focussed on sourcing unique ingredients, and investing in technology and clinical research, some of which will be announced later this year and take us into new market categories. This year, for example, we plan to launch 15 new product initiatives. This push for new product development will involve upgrading research and development as well as factory facilities further this year.”
“Entering into new markets will provide Mentholatum with new growth opportunities. We are currently expanding our product portfolio across the former soviet and central and eastern European markets as well as the Arab states and South Africa. Mentholatum is already seen as number one in the Ukraine thanks to our topical portfolio, which has been driven by doctor recommendation. Our aim is now to push forward the lip and eye care categories. This will mean investment into new and revolutionary technologies in these sectors, such as light technology.”
“Investing into pharmacy and retail is also a fundamental goal for Mentholatum. In Poland, we are looking to take our commitment to the next level and recruit a medical sales force to drive further expansion. We will also be reviewing the licenses of our products. In Romania and France, the focus will be on our CE marked products, as well as topicals. We will also be looking for new product offerings in Spain and Italy.”
“Investment in existing brands is crucial. This year we will be investing heavily into Deep Heat, undertaking new research and new product development. Internationally, there will also be a focus on our topical range as we invest more into the portfolio in South Africa and the Arab states, particularly in Dubai, where the demand for our topical products is already strong.”
“With all this in mind, the objective is to grow Mentholatum by a further 15% in the UK this year. Another key objective for us is to extend our corporate social responsibility programme. We have already launched various community initiatives in East Kilbride where the UK headquarters is based, such as an annual sporting grant to one of the local schools in the area, and financial support to local, up and coming athletes. This year we are taking our corporate social responsibility policy even further by investing into a ‘clean manufacturing’ initiative to improve water and waste management. This goes a step beyond our current green targets and will allow for greater environmental savings. At Mentholatum we are all about people, and so we will be unveiling further corporate social responsibility policies later this year.”
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