‘Best ever year’ for medical firm B Braun

B Braun Medical also enjoyed the red carpet treatment earlier this year, when it helped to bring a Paralympic cyclist’s story to the big screen.

The company expects to keep growing as it creates new technologies to improve patient care.

B. Braun Medical is the UK arm of the global B. Braun Group, which is based in Melsungen, Germany, where it was founded 176 years ago.

In the company’s last financial year (January to December 2014) Sheffield-based B. Braun’s UK sales grew by £11.2m to £157.7m.

Hans Hux, the group chief executive at B. Braun, said: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved in 2014. It’s been our best year ever and it’s down to the outstanding people we have here at B. Braun and our innovative products and services portfolio, creating real measurable benefits to our customers and patients.

“Our Sheffield city region has been through a tough time in recent years, but at B. Braun we’ve never lost faith, we’ve stayed true to our Sheffield roots.

“We’ve made it our mission to lead and contribute towards innovation and to strengthen the city region as one of the premier locations in the country for healthcare technology and patient care.”

As part of the global B. Braun group, B. Braun in the UK is helping to develop computer navigated orthopaedic surgery, needle safety technology, surgical instrumentation and sterile technology.

Mr Hux said: “The NHS Trusts we work with are facing one common issue – the combined pressure of rising patient demand and, at the same time, limited resources.

“Our mission at B. Braun has been to work within these demands, offering innovative ways and attractive solutions that keep patient-centric care at the heart of everything we do.

“Introducing new, advanced technologies and well-designed processes to support the NHS and its objectives is vital in helping it meet its challenging targets of treating more patients and improving standards of care and outcomes while spending less money.”

B Braun’s UK group of companies has been set a sales target of £300m by 2020.

Mr Hux added: “We are very confident of achieving our challenging targets, despite the financial pressures facing the NHS.

“We have excellent people, a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, and are committed to introducing further innovation and efficiency in years to come.”

In March, B Braun swapped the medical world for the movie industry to support a Paralympian’s film project.

B. Braun Medical is one of the main backers of Impossible – a film by Paralympic cyclist and silver medallist Karen Darke about the psychology and motivation that enables people to overcome colossal challenges.

The short film received its UK premiere at ShAFF Sheffield’s Adventure Film Festival. Paratriathlon world champion Ms Darke was paralysed from the chest down in 1993 after a rock-climbing accident. She went on to become a member of the GB cycling squad, and she won a silver medal in the women’s road time trial H1-2 in the 2012 London Paralympics.

The 42-year-old used crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to attract donations and support for the making of Impossible, with B. Braun Medical credited as executive producer.

Ms Darke became an ambassador for B. Braun Medical in 2010, and the medical firm has been an official sponsorship partner for several of her previous ventures, including a fund-raising cycling tour of the North of England’s spinal cord injuries centres.