BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - German drug major Merck KgaA (MKGAY.PK) reported Thursday that its fiscal 2020 profit after tax climbed 50.6 percent to 1.99 billion euros from last year's 1.32 billion euros. Earnings per share were 4.57 euros, up from 3.04 euros a year ago.
Earnings per share pre were 6.70 euros, compared to prior year's 5.56 euros.
EBITDA pre jumped 18.6 percent to 5.2 billion euros, and EBITDA pre margin grew to 29.7 percent from 27.1 percent last year.
Net sales increased 8.6 percent to 17.53 billion euros from 16.15 billion euros a year ago. Organically, sales increased 6 percent.
Further, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of 1.40 euros per share, an increase of 0.10 euro over the previous year.
Looking ahead, Merck in fiscal 2021 expects to deliver strong organic net sales growth, driven mainly by the Healthcare and Life Science business sectors.
Merck forecasts organic growth of EBITDA pre in a high single-digit to low teens percentage range - excluding the release of the provision in 2020.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX