Jordan’s Nice branches out into vitamin dietary supplements enterprise

Jordan’s Fine Hygienic Holding is branching out into the dietary supplements business as it intends to build its wellness segment as part of a five-year growth strategy, its chief executive said.

The company has set aggressive growth targets and expects its wellness business, along with masks and toiletries, to account for about half of its sales. The other half will come from the company’s core paper business, James Lafferty told The National.

“We’ve accelerated our goals because we’re now 100 percent into the nutritional supplement wellness business and we’ve already launched some products,” he said.

The company now has three pillars: consumer papers; Masks, gloves and disinfectants as well as wellness.

“We have a whole new pillar … so we have very, very aggressive growth targets for the coming years,” he said.

In the wellness space, Fine has gently launched two products – Motiva Neuro Booster, which has been shown to improve cognitive function in patients with severe Alzheimer’s disease, and Motiva Immuno Booster – in the United Arab Emirates.

It expects to receive regulatory approval from other jurisdictions to officially roll it out across the region.

The dietary supplements are manufactured in Food and Drug Administration-approved facilities in the United States. However, Fine plans to move production to the Mena region within a couple of years, Mr Lafferty said.

“We have a third supplement in about a month, which is very exciting,” he said. “We expect tremendous growth.”

Fine was founded in 1958 and is majority owned by the Jordanian Nuqul Group. In 2015, Standard Chartered Private Equity led a consortium of companies to invest in a $175 million minority stake.

The pandemic fueled the launch of the company’s products, including masks and its line of long-term sanitizers, in markets across the Mena region and beyond.

The fundamentals of its core business led the company to record sales in 2020, also boosted by sales of PPE and disinfection products. However, 2021 was slightly below the 2020 peak as demand for masks fell.

“We’ve always had a good core business, plus the whole mask and sanitizer business,” said Mr. Lafferty. “2021 was another strong paper business, [but] there was less demand for masks and disinfection [products].”

We’ve accelerated our goals because we’re now 100 percent into wellness with supplements and we’ve already launched some products

James Lafferty, CEO, Fine Hygienic Holdings

Fine’s paper business, which includes products from toilet and kitchen roll to facial tissue and sanitary napkins, is growing steadily because “it’s a predictable business” and “Covid-19 hasn’t impacted it,” he said.

Fine has a long-term goal of exceeding $1 billion in annual sales, Mr. Lafferty told The National in December 2020. The company had surpassed its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) target of $75 million for this fiscal year. However, he declined to provide any revenue or Ebitda figures for 2021.

The company is still evaluating plans to list its shares with investment banks. However, it is “in no hurry” and does not need to raise capital on the stock markets. Fine will make the listing decision at “the right time,” he said.

Fine, which has invested some Dh450 million (US$122.6 million) in the UAE market over the years, including a paper mill in Abu Dhabi, is optimistic about business prospects in the Arab world’s second-largest economy and is growing keep investing, he said.

The company recently expanded its offices in Dubai as the business grows.

In 2020, Fine announced plans to invest approximately $100 million to build its sixth paper mill in the Mena area. But it has yet to make a location decision and would like to complete a thorough study before committing a large sum to set up a new facility, Mr Lafferty said.

Updated Jan 15, 2022 4:30 am