Business and the Environment
THE increased popularity of alternative medicine and organic food is resulting in surging sales for the products of Bioforce (UK), the Irvine-based herbal company.
Sales were up 44% in the first quarter and Dr Jen Tan, the medical director, conservatively estimates they will rise at least 20% to #6m during the year as a whole.
Tan, who comes from Singapore, and his wife Janyn - daughter of herbal practitioner Jan de Vries - launched Bioforce in 1987.
Bioforce AG, a Swiss herbal company, have a 25% stake in the Scottish firm, but the Tan family own the remaining 75%.
''We package and market the products produced by Bioforce in Switzerland throughout the UK,'' explained Tan.
The company's biggest seller
is Echinaforce, a cold and flu remedy, containing extracts from the Cone Flower plant of North America. This competes in the marketplace with products such as Lemsip.
''Mintel puts the sales of Echinaforce as the fourth-largest seller among cold and flu remedies sold in the UK,'' Tan said.
Bioforce products sell in Britain's 1500 health food shops as well as more than 300 chemists, an area which Tan hopes to target more in the future.
''In Germany, where the herbal market is well developed, a company the equivalent to us has sales equal to #1 per head of population. If the market in the UK developed to the same level as Germany this would give us a turnover of #55m,'' said Tan.
Bioforce is helping to spread the herbal message by producing a free magazine, called Healthy Way, which is distributed through health food shops.
''We believe we can sustain an annual growth of between 20% and 25% for the next three years,'' said Tan, ''which would give turnover nearing #9m by the year 2002.''
At present the company employs 54 people but would expect this to grow to 70 over the next three years and is now starting its own product development.
Bioforce is speaking to the Common Cold Research clinic about research. It is also contributing to the Royal Botanic Gardens Flora Celtica project examining the potential use of kelp seaweed.
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