Comvita

A natural health and wellness company with a strong heritage in innovating and manufacturing therapeutic apicultural products, Comvita Ltd is on track to propel its annual sales from $31 million in 2005 to $100 million by 2010.

A substantial proportion of that growth will be achieved from export earnings, via organic growth and acquisitions, explains General Manager Sales & Marketing, Scott Coulter.

Established in the Bay of Plenty in 1975, Comvita has undergone major changes in the past three years as it follows an ambitious strategy to move from being a trader to an international marketer, taking control over how and where its products are sold, positioned and priced, rather than working through distributors.

“Our strategy is driven by a desire to get closer to our customers so that we understand what they want in order to maximise the potential of this business,” explains Mr Coulter. “We’ve now taken control in most of our key export markets and have proven that we can grow the market more quickly than a distributor.”

Comvita’s UMF® Manuka honey, bee pollen and propolis-based natural healthcare products are targeted at the premium end of the market and are designed to meet the diverse requirements of both the Asian and Western health segments. The company has seen huge growth offshore in its high value therapeutic UMF® Manuka honey digestive and wound care products. It has also started reducing its reliance on its traditional bee products and developing other innovative New Zealand sourced natural health and wellbeing products, based on ingredients such as colostrum, echinacea, olive leaf, blackcurrant, grapeseed and kiwifruit extracts.

A 25 per cent jump in exports last year to $18.7 million was the first time Comvita’s international sales exceeded New Zealand sales. Significantly, says Mr Coulter, this export growth was across all Comvita’s export markets in virtually all product categories.

Key export markets are Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and China, a new and fast moving market, growing 173 per cent last year. The distribution channels Comvita has established in pharmacy, duty free and health food have been tailored for the nature of each market. The company has also developed a direct distribution operation in Australia, opened 18 Comvita branded stores in China, set up offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, acquired its UK distributor, and recently acquired a stake in a US wound care manufacturing and marketing business.

“Our strategy is very much about investing and growing regional hubs which provide us with a stepping stone into surrounding markets. For example the UK hub is our entry base into Europe,” explains Mr Coulter.

He says the healthcare and wellbeing industry is highly competitive and one of Comvita’s key competitive advantages is its premium New Zealand brand.

“We have a strong tradition in bringing world-leading natural therapeutic apicultural products to market and our brand leverages New Zealand’s clean, green image and unique natural resources,” says Mr Coulter.

“Our major success story is around New Zealand’s unique UMF® Manuka honey with its exceptional antibacterial qualities. One of our current focuses is to make significant gains in the wound care market. There have been a lot of clinical trials going on to prove efficacy, and some of the results are very promising.

“Research and development of innovative, New Zealand sourced products is ongoing,” says Mr Coulter. “We are increasingly partnering with leading scientific and medical researchers to create proprietary intellectual property that can be transformed into innovative and profitable products with proven efficacy.”

A publicly listed company, Comvita has 120 staff in New Zealand and offshore and has recruited strongly over the last 12 months to support its growth plans, including appointing a new CEO.

“We have a very entrepreneurial culture that goes right back to Comvita’s founders Claude Stratford and Alan Bougen,” explains Mr Coulter. “We take a pro-action approach. If we decide to do something and it falls within our strategy then we get on and do it.

“Comvita is growing very much in line with our strategy and we are also acting in line with it, and that’s quite often the hardest thing for companies to do. There’s an enormous amount of opportunities available to companies like ours and it’s simply not possible to follow them all. By having a tight strategic framework, it’s very much a guide for what you should and shouldn’t spend your time on. Otherwise, you can waste an enormous amount of time.”

With strong growth over the past few years expected to continue, Mr Coulter says Comvita’s goal of $100 million annual sales by 2010 is very achievable.

“We are focused and have a clear strategy that’s showing very good results. We are putting the building blocks in place and we have surrounded ourselves with people who are going to enable us to achieve our goal more easily.”

Image: Brett Hewlett, CEO, and Neil Craig, Chairman, Comvita.

Contact:
Scott Coulter
General Manager Sales & Marketing
Comvita Ltd
Phone:     +64 7 533 1426
Email:       scott.coulter@comvita.com

Pip Buckley
Corporate Affairs Manager
Comvita Limited
Phone:      +64 7 533 1708
Cell:        +64 21 555 989
email:      pip.buckley@comvita.com
Website:  www.comvita.com