BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - German drug maker Merck KGaA (MKGAY.PK) reported Thursday that its first-quarter net income more than doubled to 591 million euros from last year's 282 million euros. Earnings per share climbed to 1.36 euros from 0.65 euro a year ago.
Earnings per share pre exceptionals were 1.54 euros, compared to 1.12 euros last year.
Group net sales increased 20.5% to 3.67 billion euros from prior year's 3.04 billion euros. Organically, Group sales rose 4.7% thanks to the strong operating performance of the Healthcare and Life Science business sectors.
Sales increased 19.8% due to acquisitions, which was primarily attributable to the purchase of Sigma-Aldrich.
Looking ahead, for fiscal 2016, Merck confirmed and specified outlook. Merck still expects earnings per share pre exceptionals of 5.65 euros to 6 euros, and EBITDA pre exceptionals at Group level between 4.1 billion euros and 4.3 billion euros.
Merck continues to expect that Group net sales will increase to between 14.8 billion euros and 15.0 billion euros in 2016 and continues to expect slight organic sales growth.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX