“To say that we are going to be sold to an Indian group is totally false,” says Luc Provost, CEO of B Medical Systems, thus putting an end to the insistent rumour. He continues to outline a strategy aimed at a new investor, if not American, then at least well established in the United States.
“First of all, Novis Capital took a stake in 2015 and has already contributed €30m to our development. Typically, investors hold shares in a company for five to seven years. Secondly, we do not need large capex (capital investment, editor's note) investments for the next 10 to 15 years. Finally, our shareholder, based in Malaysia, is more active in Southeast Asia, whereas I think we should be looking at expansion in the US.”
After the company has comfortably passed the €100m turnover mark in 2021 and expects double-digit growth, the US is its primary market.
Bettel's precious phone call
The idea would be to add a production unit in the US after finally succeeding in penetrating the Indian market. “We had been trying for years,” explains Provost "when Prime Minister (DP) spoke to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in November 2020. Having 1.4 billion inhabitants justifies setting up a local factory there. Especially as it gives us a 30% advantage in public tenders.”
But India, he assures us, has also enabled B Medical Systems “to enter the labour market, to find specialists. For example, we had no know-how in PCMs (phase change materials that are very useful for preserving the cold chain, editor's note). We found a specialist PhD who will enable us to set up a research laboratory. As we did not have our own PCMs, we had to buy them from China, the UK or the US. Here we will have them at unbeatable prices at higher quality levels.”
“Then, in Luxembourg, our 24 R&D engineers were spending 30-40% of their time maintaining and stabilising already developed products! We will transfer the low value-added tasks to India, and our researchers will be able to focus on 100% innovation,” says Provost.
The Mundra plant also strengthens the Luxembourg company's competitive position. “Instead of delivering in five to six weeks from Luxembourg to Madagascar, we deliver in one week. This is very important in a competitive market where the Chinese are very aggressive.”
Four innovative products this year
“Growth is a good thing. Of course covid has opened doors for us. But we have also focused on long-term opportunities. If you look at the results, in 2021, 21% of our business was related to covid, it will be four times less in 2022, with a higher turnover. Because we are going to integrate new technologies, in the medical field, linked to the Internet of Things or traceability, innovative products that did not exist two years ago. Four products will be launched this year," says the Hosingen-based company's CEO.
In addition to revenue growth, recruitment is also increasing. “We were 241 in 2021, we will be 346 at the end of the year. The visibility we have had thanks to the media has been accompanied by spontaneous applications from people who wanted to reorient their career to give it meaning.”
“And the support of the Luxembourg government, both nationally and internationally, has been very useful for our development. In Belgium, France or Germany, we would have had to be much bigger to get this support. This is what motivates us to stay here,” says Provost.
With its new production hall of about 4,500m2, built in six months and delivered at the end of last year, B Medical Systems intends to establish its presence and take a dip in as many markets as possible. The medical equipment industry pioneer and a world leader in the cold storage for vaccines is present in over 140 countries.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.