MEDICA 2023 – Market Insights
MEDICA 2023 – Market Insights
David Brooks, Director, M&A at Kinsella Group
With over 5,300 exhibitors from almost 70 countries and 83,000 visitors MEDICA in Düsseldorf is one of the largest medical B2B trade fairs in the world. A wide range of innovative products and services from the fields of medical imaging, laboratory technology, diagnostics, health IT, mobile health as well as physiotherapy/orthopaedic technology and medical consumables were presented.
David Brooks attended MEDICA this fall and shares these insights:
Frequently commented by both US and European companies at Medica this fall was that 2023 has been / will be disappointingly flat with Q3 and Q4 dropping away significantly with not much by way of uptick expected until Q2 2024.
It was attributed to be consequential to covid-related supply disruption caused by unavailability of raw materials in 2021 rather than end market demand patters. Many OEMs increased stocks which caused a surge in 2022 that is now being rebalanced.
In Europe, compounding supply-related obstacles is the Medical Device Regulation (“MDR”) landscape. Despite deadlines being pushed back to 2028, the constraints due to the capacity of notified bodies as well as testing has resulted in widespread rationalisation of product lines and hence inventories by OEM’s.
All these activities have resulted in the creation of gaps for suppliers whose schedules have been cancelled. This seems to be particularly noticeable in plastics.
The consequence for M&A activity appears to be that many companies who have been preparing for sale have deferred timescales into 2024 to optimise valuations.
David Brooks has held several senior executive leadership positions in the orthopaedic, healthcare, scientific instrument, and automotive industries. Based in the U.K., his roles have been oriented towards global markets and has extensive direct experience working and operating across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Currently, Mr. Brooks is a Director, M&A, at Kinsella Group.
