Merck KGaA Expects Higher Profitability, Sales in 2022 After 1Q Earnings Rise

By Xavier Fontdegloria

Merck KGaA said Thursday that it expected higher profit and sales for 2022 after earnings and revenue increased in the first quarter driven by a strong performance of its life science division.

The German pharmaceuticals-and-chemicals company posted an after tax profit of 884 million euros ($929.5 million) in the first quarter, up 18% from the EUR748 million registered the same period a year earlier. Analysts expected Merck KGaA to report an after-tax profit of EUR1.05 billion, according to a consensus forecast provided by FactSet.

Net Sales increased 12% to EUR5.20 billion, with organic growth driven by all its business sectors, the company said. Economists expected sales to come in at EUR5.09 billion.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before one-time items, or Ebitda pre--one of the company's closely-watched metrics--rose 7.8% to EUR1.63 billion compared with EUR1.51 billion the prior year.

Merck KGaA said net sales for 2022 are expected at between EUR21.6 billion and EUR22.8 billion compared with EUR19.69 billion in 2021, while Ebitda pre is seen coming in between EUR6.6 billion and EUR7.1 billion from EUR6.10 billion.

However, the forecast is subject to increased uncertainty and is based on the assumption of short and locally restricted lockdowns in China, the company said.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 12, 2022 01:16 ET (05:16 GMT)

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