BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Merck KGaA (MKGAY.PK) reported that its first quarter net income to shareholders rose by more than 100% year-on-year to 456 million euros from 189 million euros. Earnings per share was 1.05 euros compared to 0.43 euros. The operating result EBIT advanced by 89.0% to 716 million euros. EBITDA pre increased by 27.2% to 1.2 billion euros. Earnings per share pre was 1.50 euros, an increase of 32.7%.
First quarter Group net sales increased by 16.7% to 4.4 billion euros. Organically, Group sales grew by 7.6%, driven by the Healthcare and Life Science business sectors.
The company said the Covid-19 crisis only had a moderate impact in the first quarter of 2020. However, the company expects the effects to amplify in the coming months. For fiscal 2020, the company projects: net sales of approximately 16.8 billion euros to 17.8 billion euros with slight to moderate organic growth; and EBITDA pre of approximately 4.35 billion euros to 4.85 billion euros with stable organic development.
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