Sartorius Shares Drop on Outlook Cut

   By Giulia Petroni 
 

Shares in Sartorius dropped Monday after the company cut its outlook for the full year on the back of shrinking demand.

At 0724 GMT shares were down 13.5% at EUR307.50.

The German pharmaceutical company said late Friday that it expects sales to decline in the low to mid-teens percentage range in 2023, while the margin of underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization is seen at around 30% from 33.8% last year.

The cut is due to lingering reductions in customer inventories following the Covid-19 pandemic as well as reduced production capacity, it said.

"While our recent investor discussions suggested that an FY23 target downgrade was reasonably priced in, these new targets appear to fall notably short of buy-side expectations," Berenberg's Odysseas Manesiotis said in a research note.

The analyst added that, while Sartorius has reiterated mid-term targets, the market may not be convinced until they see order growth. "Orders in 4Q should be a key figure to back management's confidence in its mid-term targets," Manesiotis said.

Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 19, 2023 03:52 ET (07:52 GMT)

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