In any industry, the organizations succeed when they build trust and create customer value with every interaction. Professionalism and a strategic focus play a pivotal role in driving the organization’s success to greater heights by achieving extraordinary results.
Innovative pharmaceutical organizations that adopt a customer focus can gain an enormous advantage with new approaches to research and development, ensuring a robust portfolio of the perfect products are more likely to excel. This is where Uriach comes into the spotlight as one of the prominent companies in the health and pharmaceutical sector.
Uriach is guided by and focused on its mission and values—Unity, Resonance, Intensity, Ambition, Confidence, and History. These pillars help the organization be consistent and purposeful in everything it does.
Its purpose is clear: Uriach believes in the power of nature, enhanced by science, as the best way to improve human health and wellbeing, and the most sustainable too. Uriach wants to have a positive impact both on people´s life and the planet.
Under the coherent leadership of its CEO, Oriol Segarra, Uriach has a great window of opportunity to become a European leader in the natural healthcare field over the next few years, combining its strengths with the clear market opportunity that is emerging to become globally relevant in this business segment.
Setting Benchmarks
Uriach’s story began in 1838 and had five chapters, one for each generation of the Uriach family. Over the past ten years, Uriach has been growing within the Consumer Healthcare sector (food supplements, over the counter healthcare products manufactured by means of private funds). And finally, in 2021, Uriach sold its B2B Pharma business to completely focus its activities on its Natural Consumer Healthcare sector, which manufactures highly innovative products based on scientific research and using natural ingredients.
Today, Uriach has over 850 collaborators. Its subsidiaries in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the organization has a joint-venture agreement with local companies in Greece and Romania and sells its products in over 20 other countries on top of this. This means Uriach have brands that are already being sold in many European countries and which are therefore starting to go global.
Uriach has been registering double-digit growth for the past ten years, thanks to its adaptability and development of cutting-edge products that highlight its commitment to society.
The secret to Uriach’s successful evolution and transformation is based on five pillars: professionalism, strategic focus, growth and profitability, internationalisation and, last but by no means least, a unique corporate culture focused on all of our collaborators being passionate about what they do and giving their all, so that we achieve extraordinary results time and time again.
A Coherent Leadership
Oriol Segarra joined Uriach in 2012. Counting with the trust of the shareholders and board members from day one, he built a fantastic team which has helped the organization enormously.
As he led the company forwards in its transformation over the last few years: a transformation of which, as a team, Uriach is very proud of indeed. It has been an extraordinary journey during which Oriol and so many others in this great family have lived the best years of their professional life so far.
For Oriol, helping both people and the planet is extremely important on a personal and professional level. Uriach is experiencing a global trend in which consumers are viewing healthcare in a whole new light. They want the ways in which they care for their health to be holistic, sustainable and natural, with a greater focus on prevention.
Incorporating Exceptional Attributes
Uriach wants to have a positive impact both on people’s lives and on the planet. This is why its mission is to guide, facilitate and empower consumers in their transition towards a new, more natural way of improving their life, health and wellbeing, offering them the very best natural health solutions, empowering consumers and communicating with them through experts and prescribers on both a direct and indirect basis.
Uriach’s vision is to lead the way in the ‘Natural CHC’ segment in Europe to be the most innovative company in this sector, with the best brands and the widest geographical footprint on its continent. Uriach’s revenue and EBITDA targets are to double its current levels through a combination of organic and inorganic growth.
Enabling an era of Continual Novelties
Uriach is a house of brands: brands are our main asset and, along with innovation, form the backbone of our business. Its mission is to build strong global brands (European for now), with the consumer at the heart of its strategy.
Uriach’s brands are positioned in several consumer categories and segments with different brand architectures. Still, all share the same DNA: the very best formulations and the most natural ingredients possible, all powered by science and innovation.
Noteworthy brands in its portfolio include:
- Aquilea (A leading Spanish brand of highly innovative food supplements focused on consumers and pharmacies).
- Fisiocrem (Muscle preparation and recovery as well as joint pain treatment to take care of your physical wellbeing so you can live the lifestyle you want).
- Laborest (A leading brand in Italy in the segment for highly sophisticated food supplements which are sold through medical consultations).
- Aquilea, Fisiocrem and Laborest are already global brands, present in various European countries, with an annual turnover of over €50m.
Uriach’s portfolio of leading brands in its various local markets:
- Depuralina (leading weight-loss brand in Portugal)
- Sidroga (leading medicinal tea brand in Germany and Switzerland),
- Biodramina, Aerored, Fave de Fuca, Halibut, etc., in Spain.
Uriach never stops focusing on innovation. The organization wants to set the standards in its industry, not only because it has the best product portfolio (as proven by several awards over the last few years, such as “Premio Nutra Ingredients,” “Product of the year” etc.), but also because of its innovative mindset.
For Uriach, innovation is about new ways of being as well as new ways of doing. It is part of its culture; it is in the DNA of each and every one of Uriach’s collaborators.
Embracing the Future Roadmap
Uriach has consolidated its strategic positioning in the Natural Consumer Healthcare segment and completed the professionalisation of the family business. In 2021, the Owners Council decided to nominate Luís Cantarell as President of the Board of Directors and as the first President external to the owner family.
This process was initiated by the Uriach family in 2012 when the decision was taken to incorporate a new CEO external to the family for the day-to-day management of the business. Uriach has launched a new strategic plan for up to 2025, which outlines its vission to become the European leader in Natural CHC.
One way in which Uriach will reach its goal is by increasing our direct presence on the continent. Its internationalisation process began in 2015 when the organization acquired the Italian company Laborest (followed by AR Fitofarma and Progine in 2019).
In 2018, Uriach acquired Theralab in Portugal, and in 2021, it took over the German company Sidroga to secure its presence in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). In a nutshell, Uriach currently has a direct presence in eight of the main European markets through six subsidiaries and two joint-venture agreements (Greece and Romania).
Uriach has set the target of increasing its direct presence in several new European markets. One of its priority objectives is an expansion in France, the Nordic countries or several relevant markets in Eastern Europe. Bolstering its “Rest of the World (ROW)” business forms another key component of its international expansion plan. It refers to markets in which Uriach operates through strategic partners (currently more than 20).
However, it is important to highlight the fact that here at Uriach, making an active contribution to bringing about a better world is just as important as consolidating the business growth. This is why the sustainability plan and the global and local initiatives that have emerged from it have become a key pillar of our new strategic plan for 2022-25.
“We can only achieve all of this by constantly striving for creativity so that we remain unique in our industry and continuously improve how we connect with people. So that Uriach remains a company that dreams big and can make those dreams a reality,” said Oriol Segarra.
Recognition of Achievements
With its exponential progress in the sector, Uriach has managed to change the lives of thousands of people with the quality and effectiveness of its natural products. Uriach wants to set the standards in the industry, not only because it has the best product portfolio but also because of his innovative mindset.
The company has been granted different awards: Fuca Regularidad has won a Nutraingredients award in 2022, Fisiocrem was scooped the Best Product for Athletes at the iDermo Awards in 2020, Colpofix was chosen as a winner in ‘Excellence in Pharma: Finished Products’ CPhI Awards 2020, among others. These awards are a “seal of quality” for the innovation they do at Uriach.
“It shows that our products can sustain the evaluation of an international panel of scientific judges. It is a matter of pride for the whole team to win one of these highly coveted awards” (Innovation and Marketing Team)
