Blue Sail Medical 2018 Annual Report: Cardiovascular and Protective Businesses Drive Net Profit Surge of 72.61%

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on the evening of April 12, 2019, Bluesail Medical Co., Ltd. (SZ002382, hereinafter referred to as “Bluesail Medical”) released its 2018 annual report. The company reported operating revenue of RMB 2.653 billion in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 68.35%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company amounted to RMB 347 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 72.61%.

In 2018, the global capital market experienced significant volatility. Leveraging its acquisition of Singapore-based Biosensors International Group, Bluesail Medical established a new development foundation and a dual-engine business model driven by both “low-to-mid-value consumables” and “high-value consumables” in the medical device sector. This strategic move enabled leapfrog growth, with multiple core operational indicators—including revenue, net profit, and growth rates—reaching record highs since the company’s listing.

According to the annual report, Bluesail Medical achieved its best performance since its listing in 2018, with total revenue reaching RMB 2.653 billion, a year-on-year increase of 68.35%. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company also hit a record high of RMB 347 million, up 72.61% year on year, ranking among the top in the medical device sector in terms of net profit growth. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was RMB 388 million, a year-on-year increase of 94%. The net cash flow from operating activities amounted to RMB 649 million, surging 185.35% year on year.

Meanwhile, Bluesail Medical invested RMB 183 million in R&D, added 37 new patented technologies, and reached a cumulative total of 221 patent applications. Technological innovation capability will continue to serve as the core competitiveness driving the company’s development.

Beyond the financial report data, Bluesail Medical’s development strategy of “low- and mid-value consumables + high-value consumables” also features many highlights.

Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Business: Global total stent sales reached 700,000 units; Jiwei Medical’s annual market share in the Chinese market exceeded 21%.

During the reporting period, Bluesail Medical successfully completed the acquisitions of CBCH II and CBCH V, marking its strategic transition into the high-value medical device sector. The annual report revealed that CBCH II (the holding entity of Biosensors International) achieved a net profit of RMB 390 million after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, thereby fulfilling its performance commitment for 2018. This demonstrates that the initial results of the company’s strategic transformation are beginning to materialize.

Biosensors International is a globally renowned multinational corporation specializing in cardiac interventional devices, ranking fourth worldwide and among the top three in China in terms of coronary stent market share. Its product portfolio includes drug-coated stents (DCS), drug-eluting stents (DES), bare-metal stents, as well as balloons and balloon catheters used in cardiac interventional procedures. Biosensors International holds proprietary patents for Biolimus A9™ (hereinafter referred to as “BA9”). Its flagship product, BioFreedom™, utilizes a luminal coating technology to deliver BA9 without employing polymers. This design achieves lipophilicity more than ten times greater than that of conventional drug-carrying stents. BioFreedom™ is currently the only drug-eluting stent globally whose suitability for high-bleeding-risk patients has been rigorously demonstrated through clinical trials, allowing for a one-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) regimen post-procedure.

In the international market, Biosensors International has established operating entities in Singapore, Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, and other countries and regions. The company’s various stent products are sold to more than 90 countries and regions worldwide, with a sales volume of 394,000 units.

In the domestic market, Biosensors International’s Chinese subsidiary, JW Medical, achieved a compound annual growth rate of 19% in operating revenue over the past three years (2015–2018). In 2018, JW Medical saw continued steady growth in stent product sales, with sales volume reaching 309,800 units. The number of implanted devices increased by more than 20% year-on-year, surpassing the industry’s growth rate of 14%.

Since its launch, Jiwei Medical’s flagship product, the EXCEL stent, has achieved cumulative sales of over 2 million units by 2018, benefiting more than 1.3 million patients with its products and therapies, making it the best-selling single product in China. In 2017, the second-generation Excrossal Xinyue™ stent was successfully launched and rapidly gained market traction; it has now been included in the provincial procurement catalogs or online listing platforms of 15 provinces, covering a total of 21 provinces. Based on public data presented by Professor Huo Yong at the 21st National Interventional Cardiology Forum on April 21, 2018, and taking into account Jiwei Medical’s implantation growth rate in 2018 along with overall market growth, its domestic market share for the full year is estimated to have exceeded 21%, placing it at the forefront of the industry.

According to the annual report, Bluesail Medical has established a series of major domestic and international collaborations with partners such as Siemens Healthineers and the Dandelion Medical Alliance. Going forward, the company plans to consolidate the competitive advantages of its existing coronary stent product line while continuously expanding its portfolio in cardiovascular, structural heart disease, peripheral vascular, and neurointerventional fields, thereby elevating Biosensors into a comprehensive global platform for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular interventional devices.

In response to consumers’ growing demands, Bluesail Medical’s Protective Products Division has further diversified its product portfolio, offering multiple categories including examination gloves, nursing gloves, protective gloves, household gloves, and children’s gloves. Its products serve a wide range of sectors such as medical care, food processing, and electronics manufacturing. Meanwhile, the company is actively expanding into the markets for first-aid kits, medical and daily care products, and civilian fire protection solutions. This expansion covers various types of first-aid kits (e.g., vehicle-mounted first-aid kits, home care boxes, portable care kits, and public care boxes), medical and daily care products, and water-based fire extinguishers, thereby establishing a rich, multi-tiered product matrix.

During the reporting period, Bluesail Medical successfully ramped up the production capacity of Phase I (2 billion units/year) of its “6 Billion Units/Year Health Protection (New-Type Gloves) Project,” while Phase II (4 billion units/year) of the same project was partially completed and put into operation in November 2018. The total annual production capacity for medical and health protection gloves increased significantly, exceeding 18 billion units.

According to Bluesail Medical's annual report, the company’s nitrile gloves, TPE gloves, and other products are currently distributed across more than 110 countries on five continents. Its PVC gloves hold the largest global market share, while the company is actively expanding into emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. In the domestic market, the company has adopted a “dual-wheel drive” development strategy combining offline and online channels. It has undertaken strategic planning and systematic upgrades for its online stores, focusing on flagship stores to establish a strong presence on more than ten e-commerce platforms, including Taobao, Tmall, and Xiaomi.

Meanwhile, the company has continuously driven upgrades in manufacturing technologies through persistent innovation and R&D, achieving particularly notable results in the launch of online visual inspection equipment, the promotion of automatic cartoning machines, and the widespread implementation of DCS data acquisition and exhaust gas absorption projects. Phase II of the company’s project adopts automated production control systems and intelligent production equipment, establishing a workshop-level Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to ensure resource allocation, data collection, and transmission for materials and products, thereby realizing high-quality, efficient, low-consumption, and flexible intelligent manufacturing.

"China Medical Device Industry Development Report (2017)" explicitly states that China has become the world's second-largest medical device market. With rapid economic and social development and heightened public awareness of health and healthcare, the industry is projected to maintain an annual growth rate of over 10% in the next decade, indicating substantial potential for market expansion.

In fiscal year 2018, Bluesail Medical took its first step into the high-value medical consumables sector by acquiring Biosensors International. In its annual report, Bluesail Medical stated that the company would align with the development trends of the healthcare industry, continuously promote industrial upgrading in its protective products business, further enrich and optimize its product portfolio in the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular sectors, strategically enter the surgical, orthopedic, and drug infusion segments at appropriate times, leverage strategic synergies across these business units, and build a more comprehensively competitive healthcare enterprise.

In the new phase of future development, Bluesail Medical will tap into the substantial growth potential of the medical device market by focusing on category expansion, brand building, and catering to a diversified consumer base. Within its protection business segment, the company will leverage its existing glove products as a cornerstone to continuously enrich its product portfolio, provide consumers with a “one-stop” product suite, strengthen its brand, pursue multi-channel distribution, and steadily expand its market share.

In the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular business segment, leveraging its existing departmental platforms, Bluesail Medical continuously enriches and expands its medical device product portfolio through a dual strategy of independent R&D and M&A-driven incubation. By closely monitoring frontier technological trends, the company proactively deploys leading product technologies via targeted independent R&D and investment-based incubation. Looking ahead, Bluesail Medical will continue to refine its business segment layout to ensure complementary business models and risk hedging, while deeply tapping into the growth potential of its existing segments, with the goal of evolving into a world-class leading enterprise in the comprehensive healthcare industry.