GÖTTINGEN, Germany - Sartorius AG, a leading life science group, reported a slight decrease in sales revenue by 2.0 percent for the first nine months of 2024, with a robust underlying EBITDA margin of 27.7 percent. Despite challenging market conditions, the company saw a 6.6 percent increase in order intake and a significant rise in net operating cash flow.
The company's Bioprocess Solutions Division, which focuses on manufacturing biopharmaceuticals, nearly matched the previous year's sales revenue, while the Lab Products & Services Division faced a decline due to weak end markets, particularly in China. However, order intake for the latter stabilized, showing resilience in a hesitant investment climate.
Sartorius CEO Joachim Kreuzburg expressed confidence in the company's trajectory, citing the stabilization of business post-pandemic and the positive effects of their efficiency program expected to peak in the fourth quarter. Kreuzburg highlighted the life science and biopharmaceutical markets' fundamental growth drivers, such as the increasing number of drug approvals and candidates in clinical phases, as well as the dynamic development of new therapies, all contributing to a growing demand for efficient biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing technologies.
Despite a moderate decline in sales revenue to 2,474 million euros, the company's profitability remained strong. The underlying net profit for the period was 208 million euros, with earnings per share at 3.01 euros for ordinary shares and 3.02 euros for preference shares.
The company's workforce saw a slight reduction, primarily due to the expiration of fixed-term contracts and regular attrition, totaling 13,762 employees worldwide.
Sartorius's financial position remains robust, with an improved equity ratio of 38.6 percent and a net operating cash flow increase of 13.0 percent to 613 million euros. The Group's net debt to underlying EBITDA ratio also improved, standing at 4.3 at the end of the quarter.
Looking ahead, Sartorius confirms its full-year guidance for 2024, expecting sales revenue to be on par with the previous year and an underlying EBITDA margin in the range of 27 to 29 percent. The company anticipates a positive contribution from its efficiency program and forecasts a capex to sales revenue ratio of around 12 percent, with net debt to underlying EBITDA around 4.
This financial update is based on a press release statement from Sartorius AG.
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