Doctor’s Best to expand NMN product line in China as sales hit nearly US$10m last year

This is according to the FY2020 annual report released by Kingdomway, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed company which is the parent firm of the US supplement brand.

Doctor’s Best launched its NMN product first in China​ last year, which in turn sparked frenzy in the country for similar products​ from the US, Japan and New Zealand.

Kingdomway said its plans for Doctor’s Best in China was to expand its NMN product line to satisfy needs of different people and sales channels.

This is to build up on the success of the NMN product, where 58,267 bottles were sold, contributing to sales revenue of RMB$64m (US$9.8m).

Doctor’s Best flagship store on Tmall was also amongst the top 10 and top five overseas dietary supplements stores during the Double 11 and Double 12 shopping events respectively in China last year.

Elsewhere in the US, Doctor’s Best coenzyme Q10, glucosamine and 100% chelated high absorption magnesium, are its bestselling products on Amazon US and iHerb.

With over 300 product SKUs, the total revenue and net profit from Doctor’s Best was up 32.19 per cent and 24.43 per cent year-on-year.

“This was mainly driven by the increased demand of health foods as a result of the pandemic,”​ said Kingdomway.

This year, the products from Doctor’s Best are expected to be stocked in shelves in the duty-free Hainan free trade port.

Aside from NMN, the brand’s other R&D focus will be on men’s health and children’s health.

Company’s performance​

As a company, Kingdomway said its FY2020 revenue was up 9.79 per cent to RMB$3.5bn (US$534m). Net profit attributable to shareholders was up 112.82 per cent to RMB$959m (US$146m).

With health ingredients and finished products taking up the majority of its business, revenue from this segment was 99.44 per cent, equivalent to RMB$3.48bn (US$531m), which was a 10.53 per cent yoy increase.

Being China’s largest coenzyme Q10 export company, the company said revenue from this portfolio had increased by 35.93 per cent yoy.

This was due to a lower market supply which pushed up prices, as well as a lower operating capital, the company explained. Market supply was pushed down due to climate change and environmental protection concerns.

Vitamin A and its consumer products are its other core portfolios.

Revenue from its vitamin A ingredient business was also up 3.26 per cent yoy, while revenue from its finished products was up 9.36 per cent.

Region wise, 79 per cent of its revenue came from business outside of China, while the remaining 20.20 per cent was from China.

“Globally, the scale of the consumer dietary supplement industry is continuing to grow, with the US market at the leading position, it is also a more mature market.​

“Although China’s [dietary supplement] market has started later than the US, Japan, Europe, Australia and other advanced countries, but after going through a later start, a speedy and prosperous development, trust crisis, ​reorganisation ​and revival, it is now at a fast development phase,”​ the company said, citing Euromonitor’s forecast on how China’s health foods market could hit RMB$62bn (US$46bn) by 2025.

Other than coenzyme Q10 and vitamin A, its ingredient business also spans across vitamin D3, vitamin K2, algae DHA, and plant-based ARA.

As for finished product brands, aside from Doctor’s Best which it acquired in 2015, it also owns US functional beverage brand Zipfizz, US nutraceutical firm Vit-Best, and Japanese beauty-from-within brand Maikon.

The company also has a small stake in health and wellness e-commerce platform iHerb.

Plans​

Kingdomway’s key plans for this year is to pump up its production of vitamin A and vitamin D3.

The goal is to hit an annual production of 800 tonnes of vitamin A oil and 200 tonnes for vitamin D3 oil. The company plans to commence pilot production this year.

It will also focus on developing a co-enzyme Q10 finished product. Co-enzyme Q10 recently became one of the five ingredients that has been added into the Health Food Raw Material Directory.

This means that it could be sold as a finished product in China via the filing route​, which is a faster go-to-market strategy than the registration route.

Kingdomway’s other plans include developing hyaluronic acid oral liquid, gummies supplements, NMN, Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and Q10 facial mask.