Lamia Tazi, a Moroccan pharmaceutical tycoon and multimillionaire businesswoman, is set to receive MAD15.12 million ($1.48 million) in dividends from her stake in Marocaine Ste de Therapeutique (Sothema), the country’s premier pharmaceutical group.
This substantial dividend payout, which represents a significant portion of the MAD180-million ($17.6 million) gross dividend proposed by the company’s board of directors, will be deposited directly into Tazi’s account.
Sothema is a leading healthcare company in Morocco, producing approximately 60 million pharmaceutical units annually and managing a diversified portfolio of 35 global laboratories that develop and market products to customers in Europe, the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Persian Gulf.
Tazi, the CEO and chairperson of Sothema and one of the most affluent investors on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, holds a substantial 8.4-percent stake in the leading healthcare company, which corresponds to 605,030 issued shares.
Pharma giant, Sothema overcomes adversity, reports $27 million profit in 2022
Sothema’s impressive performance during the fiscal year ended on Dec. 31, 2022, resulted in a net profit of MAD 282.1 million ($27.6 million), which represented a slight uptick from the previous year’s figure of MAD 281.9 million ($27.58 million), a five basis point increase.
Despite significant input cost inflation and disruptions in global logistics networks that affected operations, the group’s resilient financial performance can be attributed to operational excellence and business model resilience in the face of challenging conditions.
A 9.3 percent increase in revenue, from MAD 2.058 billion ($201.43 million) to MAD 2.25 billion ($220 million), during the period under review was driven by new product launches, an expanded promotional team, more efficient distribution channels, and active participation in scientific, medical, and pharmaceutical events.
