(AOF) – 3M is expected to rise slightly after announcing today the appointment of Bryan C. Hanson as general manager of the future independent company which will bring together its health activities, the “Health Care Business Group”, from its creation September 1. Bryan Hanson had been president and CEO of the American medtech group Zimmer Biomet since December 2017. He also spent more than 8 years as the head of minimally invasive technologies at Medtronic.
“We are pleased to have Bryan join us to complete the spin-off of our Health Care business and create a leading independent medical technology innovation company,” said Mike Roman, President and CEO. from 3M. “His industry expertise, his ability to drive growth and his ability to create a strong culture and teams will have an immediate impact.”
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Cleaning, hygiene and beauty products: how to reverse the balance of power between producers and distributors
The recently adopted Descrozaille law caps the discounts that distributors can offer on cleaning, hygiene and beauty products. However, three-quarters of these products currently offer higher discounts: 52% on average on toothbrushes or 50% on dishwashing liquids, for example. The objective of this law is clearly to protect manufacturers on the grounds that it is essentially the suppliers who finance the promotions, by cutting back on their margins, and not the distributors. The measure therefore aims to limit the continuous loss of value of the sector in recent years. According to the firm Circana (ex-IRI), the price of hygiene and beauty products fell by 13.4% between 2007 and 2022. For distributors, this law poses a risk to the 232 million euros in turnover (105 million euros for health and beauty and 125 million euros for maintenance). However, this provision could also favor distributor brands (MDD).
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Biotechs put to the test
These companies are suffering from a much less favorable economic cycle, which is reflected in particular by a drop in financing by venture capital for start-ups. These companies are therefore obliged to carry out redundancy plans. Added to this is a much more restrictive regulatory framework. First, in the United States, the measures linked to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could have a strong impact on the margins of the participants. Indeed, from 2026, the federal Medicare program will be able to renegotiate the price of drugs marketed for nine years (chemicals) or 13 years (biologicals), with discounts that could range from 35 to 60% for biotechs. Similarly, in Europe, with the new drug regulations presented in Brussels in April, the duration of patent protection will be reduced if the innovative treatment is not marketed in all member countries within two years.
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Rail investment plan
The French railway industry ranks second in Europe and third worldwide. This industry has a trade surplus, which generates more than 100,000 jobs in France. The announcement of the future plan for French rail transport provides in particular for the regeneration and modernization of the network, the average age of which is 30 years in our territory. This age is much higher than in countries like Germany (17) and Switzerland (15). An annual investment rising from 2.8 billion euros to nearly 4 billion euros should enable the entire network to be maintained in good condition.