Controlant AGM 2024: Core revenue growth and robust demand

Highlights from Controlant‘s 2024 Annual General Meeting:

All figures are in USD.

• Revenues grew year-on-year from $133 million in 2022 to $185 million in 2023.
• EBITDA was $105 million and net loss $10.5 million.
• Robust demand for Controlant‘s core solutions supported by industry and market trends.
• Investment in innovation drives strategic expansion of the product portfolio marked by a key development with the introduction of Saga Card for end-to-end visibility of pharma supply chains.
• Shareholders authorized the board to increase share capital to support funding.

Key financial and operational results

At the meeting, Søren Skou, Chairman of the Board of Directors, reported on the operations of the company during the year, key events, and outlook. Gísli Herjólfsson, CEO and co-founder of Controlant presented milestones, commercial development, and future vision for the company. Guðmundur Árnason, CFO, reviewed the company’s Financial Statement for 2023 and presented the financial outlook including a planned funding process.

Controlant revenues grew in 2023 and were $185 million (2022: $133m). Operating profit (EBITDA) was $105 million (2022: $66m), and a net loss of $10.5m was reported during the year (2022: $5.5m profit). Revenues from the core business (non-Covid related) grew by 79% year-on-year, from $9 million in 2022 to $16 million in 2023.

Controlant has established a global presence with its headquarters located in Iceland, and sites in the US, Denmark, Poland, and the Netherlands. The company had an average of 506 full-time employees representing around 40 nationalities in 2023, with women making up 42% of the workforce, and men 58%.

Partnerships to enable zero-waste

In his address, Søren Skou reviewed highlights of 2023, including growing revenues from non-COVID-related business, driven by robust demand for Controlant’s core solutions including advanced IoT devices, the Aurora cloud platform, extensive add-on applications, and dedicated services.

Investing in innovation

The company continues to invest in innovation and during the year it introduced strategic expansions of its solutions to increase its market share and deliver value for pharma supply chains through automation, digitalization, and real-time visibility. By growing its market-leading product portfolio, Controlant continued to expand its partnerships with existing customers and establish partnerships with new customers. Market conditions are shifting with increased investment appetite following a slow period during the Covid-19 pandemic. This shift is complimented by the pharma industry introducing new, highly sensitive, and complex therapies in greater measure. Combined, these trends underpin a growing need for real-time monitoring solutions and bolster the demand for Controlant’s offering.

Gísli Herjólfsson, CEO and co-founder of Controlant:

“Our vision is to deliver zero-waste pharma supply chains, prioritizing patients and the planet. We made steady progress in 2023 towards realizing our vision, enabled by the support of our customers, shareholders, investors, suppliers, and partners, and the commitment from our global team. Key developments in the pharma industry including the rise of highly sensitive and complex treatments such as cell-and-gene and other biologics, are driving forces for the underlying need for highly automated, digitalized supply chains with real-time, end-to-end visibility from production to patient. Controlant is in an excellent position to seize these opportunities. Our unwavering dedication to innovation, our united team, and our market-leading, complete offering stand to transform pharma supply chains.”

Steps towards operational efficiency

During the year, Controlant secured $80 million in funding. At the same time, the company responded to a shift in demand for Covid-19 vaccines with steps to increase operational efficiency including workforce alignment and cost optimization. Taken together, these steps have put Controlant in a position to drive its operations toward sustainability, with a focus on commercial activities and market expansion.

At the meeting, shareholders authorized the Board to increase the share capital of the company to support a funding process, enabling the delivery of company goals and ambitions in 2024 and beyond.

Shareholders elected all current Board Directors as well as alternative directors to the board. Following the meeting, the board is composed of: Søren Skou (Chairman), Ásthildur Otharsdóttir (Vice-Chairman), Kristín Friðgeirsdóttir, Trausti Þórmundsson, Steve Van Kuiken, and alternative directors Magnús Magnússon and Svanhvít Gunnarsdóttir.

Søren Skou, Chairman of the Board of Controlant:

“During the pandemic, Controlant accepted an incredible challenge of helping distribute vaccines around the world at unprecedented speed and scale, all the while ensuring real-time visibility into the flow of highly regulated pharma products to a wide range of parties involved. As the company transitions into the next phase of its journey, it has proven its leadership in real-time visibility solutions for pharma supply chains. I would like to thank Ásthildur Otharsdóttir, for her leadership as Chairman of the Board and for helping lay a strong foundation for the future ahead. I look forward to working with her in her capacity as Vice-Chairman, and with other members of the board, management, and the global Controlant team during exciting times ahead. Guided by a clear vision to eliminate waste and ensure patient safety, and with the support of our shareholders and investors, we will continue to leverage Controlant’s portfolio of pharma-validated solutions including the groundbreaking Saga Card, to deliver long-term sustainable value.”

2023 sustainability highlights: Partnering for impact

An integral part of Controlant‘s zero-waste vision is enabling its pharma partners to deliver on their climate strategies. In 2023, the company made several strides on its journey towards becoming a sustainability leader in its industry.

Controlant is committed to transparently reporting on actions and progress on environmental, social, and governance aspects of its sustainability journey as a part of its engagement with all partners. In 2023, Controlant had its science-based target validated. Over the year, it reduced its carbon footprint from scope 1 and 2 by 38%, putting it on track to meet its 2030 science-based target. Measurements on scope 3 emissions also commenced during the year and decreased by 65% in the same period. Despite expanding its global footprint, the company lowered its carbon intensity to revenue by a factor of 4 and reached 87% in the share of renewable energy.

Major ESG ratings were obtained in early 2024 as a result of data collection and work carried out the year prior. The Climate Disclosure Project recognized Controlant‘s coordinated action on climate issues with a B- rating, and EcoVadis rated Controlant Silver placing it in the top 15% globally of more than 125,000 rated companies across industries for sustainability.

Throughout the year, Controlant engaged with organizations and initiatives to support and give back to communities in the places where it operates. In 2023, a new partnership with UNICEF in Iceland took off with a focus on child immunization. Controlant took an active part as a participant in the UN Global Compact, the world‘s largest corporate sustainability initiative.