BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Merck KGaA (MKGAY.PK), a German science and technology company, Thursday reported higher profit and sales in its first quarter. Further, the firm trimmed its forecast for fiscal 2025 net sales and adjusted earnings.
Merck said it has slightly adapted its full-year guidance to reflect the impact of the current macro-economic and geopolitical environment.
The company added that it remains confident to deliver sustainable growth in 2025.
In the first quarter, profit after tax grew 5.5 percent to 738 million euros from last year's 699 million euros. Earnings per share were 1.69 euros, up 5.6 percent from 1.60 euros a year earlier.
Earnings per share pre were 2.12 euros, compared to 2.06 euros last year.
Operating result or EBIT grew 8 percent year-over-year to 1.01 billion euros, and EBITDA increased 6.8 percent to 1.48 billion euros.
EBITDA pre increased 5.6 percent to 1.54 billion euros, and EBITDA pre margin improved to 29.1 percent from last year's 28.4 percent. The growth was due to temporarily reduced research and development expenses in Healthcare and strict cost discipline across the Group.
Net sales went up 3.1 percent to 5.28 billion euros from prior year's 5.12 billion euros. Net sales increased organically by 2.5 percent.
All three business sectors contributed to growth, with the Process Solutions business unit delivering double-digit growth.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2025, the company now expects Group net sales of between 20.9 billion euros and 22.4 billion euros and EBITDA pre of between 5.8 billion euros and 6.4 billion euros. This corresponds to organic sales growth of 2 percent to 6 percent and an organic EBITDA pre growth of 2 percent to 7 percent.
The company previously expected full-year net sales between 21.5 billion euros and 22.9 billion euros, corresponding to an organic growth of 3 percent to 6 percent from last year.
EBITDA pre was projected to be 6.1 billion euros to 6.6 billion euros, an organic growth of 3 percent to 8 percent from the previous year.
In fiscal 2024, net sales were 21.156 billion euros and EBITDA pre was 6.07 billion euros.
Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck, said, 'We continue to resolutely execute our strategy, driving efficient and profitable growth. In response to the challenging global backdrop, we've slightly adjusted our guidance but continue to remain confident that we are well-positioned to achieve sustainable growth for 2025 and beyond.'
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