
6. BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Since the pandemic started to affect the Medistim
business in second quarter of 2020, the effect
has become gradually smaller, and in the second
quarter of 2021, there was a strong rebound in
procedures performed and hence in the sales
revenues. This rebound has continued throughout
2021, and Medistim has experienced strong growth
in revenues due to the increase in number of CABG
procedures performed. This increase corresponds
with the reduction in hospitalizations of patients
with COVID disease, which is again an effect of
the growing vaccination rates in Medistim’s core
markets, Europe, and USA, and to some degree
also in Japan and China.
This confirms that the need for Medistim’s
products has not changed during the pandemic,
and the strong recovery seen through 2021 may
indicate that cardiac bypass surgeries are at large
back to normal. However, there are still some
uncertainties related to new variants of the virus.
The Medistim Group’s core business is within
developing, producing, servicing, leasing and
distributing medical devices. The Group is
headquartered in Oslo, with production facilities
in Horten, Norway. Medistim sells its products
through 65 distributors world-wide, including
Medistim’s own sales offices in USA, Denmark,
Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and Norway. At
the end of 2021, Medistim’s equipment was in use
in more than 65 countries and 3,150 clinics all over
the world.
The business is focused on ensuring quality within
cardiac and vascular surgery. Cardiovascular
diseases are the most common cause of death in
the western world and on the rise in Asian and Latin
American countries adopting western lifestyles.
The Group’s products contribute to improved
quality of surgery, which in turn reduces risk to
the patients and contribute to a more efficient
health economy. Worldwide, over 700,000 CABG
(Coronary artery bypass Graft procedures) and
600,000 vascular procedures are performed each
year. On a global scale Medistim has a leading
position within quality control of CABG.
Medistim is also a distributor of other medical devices
through its subsidiaries Medistim Norge AS and
Medistim Denmark Aps. The products distributed are
medical devices within all types of surgery.
6.1 Operational review
Even though cardiovascular surgery procedures
increased in 2021, medical facilities are still faced
with strict requirements for distance-keeping and
comprehensive infection control regimes. This
continued to affect Medistim’s customer relations
activities negatively in 2021. To maintain functional
customer, supplier and stakeholder relations,
Medistim adopted digital solutions for conferences
and meetings. By applying digital communication
platforms and remotely controlling ultrasound
systems, Medistim was also able to demonstrate
products and perform end-user training.
The experience is that it is possible to maintain
close customer contact, exchange information,
influence, and make business progress, while
saving cost and time by using digital tools. With
mainly digital client interaction, cost related to
travelling and physical meetings were reduced to
a minimum. As a result Medistim reports best year
ever for sales and profit. The sales growth was
17.6 % in NOK and operating profit (EBIT) growth
was 21.8% in NOK.
Adjusted for currency effects, sales were up 24.6%.
Sale of own products was up 26% when excluding
debt forgiveness of 5.3 MNOK, while sale of
third-party products were up 10% from 2020.
The strong growth is a combination of Medistim
increasing its market penetration and the fact that
patient queues after COVID has increased number
of procedures.
During 2021, Medistim sold 230 new systems (197),
and at year-end total installed base of Medistim
systems was 3,150 units (3,000). Probes and other
consumables related to use of the medical systems
represent a significant share of total sales for
Medistim, depending of number of systems installed
and utilization. Increased market penetration and
surgical activity positively impacted Medistim’s
sales of consumables for the year.
Medistim focuses on customer and market
development. Early in 2021, the company announced
the Distributor Agreement with LivaNova, a global
medical technology and innovation company, for
distribution of Medistim products in India, one of
the world’s largest and fastest growing markets
for cardiovascular surgery. LivaNova is already the
distributor for Medistim in Australia.
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MEDISTIM ANNUAL REPORT - FISCAL YEAR 2021