Merck KGaA Earnings, Sales Grew in 2Q

   By Cecilia Butini 
 

Merck KGaA on Thursday posted growing earnings and sales for the second quarter, which it said were driven by all divisions and boosted by positive currency effects.

The German pharmaceuticals-and-chemicals company posted after-tax profit of 870 million euros ($884.5 million), up from EUR747 million the year prior, on sales which grew to EUR5.57 billion from EUR4.87 billion.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before one-time items, known as Ebitda pre--a closely watched metric--came in at EUR1.78 billion, up from EUR1.58 billion, Merck said.

Sales growth was positively affected by foreign-exchange effects, especially due to developments in the U.S. dollar, the Chinese yuan and the Taiwanese dollar, the company said.

Merck backed its guidance on sales and Ebitda pre growth for the full year. It said it continues to expect sales growth of between 6% to 9%, and Ebitda pre growth of 5% to 9%.

However, strong positive currency effects are expected to help lift full-year results in these two metrics, Merck said. The company now expects full-year sales of between EUR21.9 billion and EUR23 billion, and Ebitda pre of between EUR6.75 billion and EUR7.25 billion. It had previously guided for net sales between EUR21.6 billion and EUR22.8 billion, and Ebitda pre between EUR6.6 billion and EUR7.1 billion.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2022 01:51 ET (05:51 GMT)

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