Mercator Medical has completed the first buyback of its own shares. The next one will be decided on by the shareholders

During the trading sessions on January 20-26 this year, a brokerage house bought on behalf of the company 56,293 of its shares at an average price of PLN 355.97 (the total value exceeds PLN 20 million). With the acquisition of 196,600 shares for PLN 10.6 million in the middle of 2020, Mercator Medical has completed the buyback of its own shares worth PLN 30.7 million, approved by the General Meeting at the beginning of June last year. In total, the company bought back 252,931 own shares for redemption at an average price of PLN 121.21 per share.

“This buyback was an addition to the dividend paid for 2019, the size of which was significantly limited for formal reasons. We are glad that the results of 2020 were much higher and that we will be able to share them with our shareholders. We are still going to allocate 35% of the net profit to dividends and a possible further share buyback. The specific amounts will be decided by the shareholders during the General Meeting approving the annual report,”indicates Witold Kruszewski, Management Board Member at Mercator Medical S.A. responsible for the company’s finances.

The company plans to publish the periodic report for 2020 on Monday, 1 March this year. Preliminary estimated results for Q4 2020 suggest an increase of sales to over PLN 654 million (5 times more year-on-year), which helped to reach record values of EBITDA (PLN 414 million) and net profit (PLN 370 million). On this basis, the net profit for 2020 can be estimated at nearly PLN 957 million.

“Looking at the current market situation, we are optimistic about 2021. We also intend to share profits with our shareholders in the coming years while carrying out development investments,” declares Witold Kruszewski, CFO.

As a result of the growing interest of investors, shares of Mercator Medical advanced to the mWIG40 index in June 2020, and the company’s securities futures have been traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since October. Since December, the company has also been included in the MSCI Small Caps index. Stock analysts indicate Mercator Medical as a candidate for the Polish WIG20 index in the perspective of subsequent index composition revisions. Moreover, the Mercator Medical Group is recognised and appreciated in many competitions and contests, where its dynamic business growth, geographical expansion and strong increase of capitalisation at the WSE are emphasised. The “Forbes” Family Ambassador of the Year (Rodzinny Ambasador Roku) title was awarded to Mercator Medical and received by dr Wiesław Żyznowski, the founder and the president of the company. Mercator Medical was also awarded a distinction in the Foreign Investment Pioneer (Pionier Inwestycji Zagranicznych) category of the competition “Polish Company – International Champion” (Polska Firma – Międzynarodowy Czempion) organised by PwC Polska and Puls Biznesu. The company debuted in the 22^nd edition of the “Lista 500” ranking compiled by Rzeczpospolita and received the Eagle of the Republic award (Orzeł Rzeczpospolitej) in the Debut category; in addition, it was awarded the Investor Without Borders title (Inwestor bez granic) granted annually as part of the European Economic Congress in Katowice to the most effective Polish investors expanding internationally.

At the same time, since the beginning of the pandemic, Mercator Medical has been actively involved in the fight against COVID-19 by donating personal protective equipment from its own portfolio to numerous medical and care facilities. To date, Mercator Medical has already donated over 1.6 million examination gloves and 50,000 face masks to almost 60 different institutions, mainly hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and foundations, as well as to the Police Headquarters, the Material Reserves Agency and the Ministry of Health. At present, the company is carrying out the #TogetherAgainstTheVirus (#WspólniePrzeciwWirusowi) campaign to support medical and care facilities by donating personal protective equipment from its own portfolio.