Virbac

2020 first quarter revenue rose by +14.3% at comparable exchange rates, significantly impacted by anticipatory buying - Seite 3

To address this situation, we quickly assembled a dedicated committee that coordinates all positions and maintains contact with all subsidiaries to monitor the situation as it evolves, and to quickly and effectively make the best decisions. Measures have been introduced at various Group sites: communications on how the virus is spread and the barrier gestures to be followed, monitoring of evocative symptoms, social distancing and contact prohibition, flow control, moving work stations to different locations (production, R&D, administrative), guided management of outside providers, personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves for those in the most exposed positions, etc. These measures were designed based on recommendations by the World Health Organization and country-specific health authorities. 

Our business continuity plans have been triggered. Projects have been prioritized and a new work organization has been established by dividing the teams and spreading the time slots to avoid any overlap, as well as imposing teleworking for all eligible positions. Our remote communication channels have also been strengthened to better communicate with veterinarians and farmers as well as with employees, all to ensure continuity in our activity and our commitments to our customers in the animal care and feeding chain. 

To date we count 30 cases of Covid-19 in our global workforce including 28 cases in France. We are continuously monitoring their health progress and that of their relatives. The majority of these cases are in our industrial teams at our major production sites in France (50% of our global productions) and in the U.S. After a temporary shutdown of our Carros site during the last week of March, we partially re-started production (current activity rate ~50%), with additional constraints, reduced staff and slower work rates. Our St. Louis site (current activity rate ~70%), as well as several of our other industrial sites are working at a slower rate, and we are unable at this point to determine when we can resume normal operations.

In terms of supply, we were able to mitigate impacts in the first quarter. However, we anticipate possible worldwide strain on the delivery of certain components or even certain products in the second quarter. For our Chinese suppliers, we are seeing a very gradual return of our supplies after a period of sharp slowdown. Our Indian subsidiary (the Group’s number 3 subsidiary), which sources locally, will very likely be affected by the country’s complex situation in terms of health and economics and recently mandated containment measures. With respect to our inventory, except for the companion animal vaccines for which we have temporarily stopped production, we have safety stocks on our main products that should cover us until the end of June 2020.