Sartorius Profits Jump 20% driven by growth in bioprocessing

The global lab and pharma equipment provider trumpeted a 20.3% jump in operating earnings or underlying earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization, which rose last year to €135 million ($182 million) from €112.2 million ($151.2 million) in 2011. Sartorius’ BITA margin reached a record-high 16%, from 15.3% in 2011.

“Despite high investments in additional manufacturing capacity, new products, and in the expansion of our sales organization, our considerable growth has enabled us to increase our bottom-line earnings more strongly than expected at the outset of the year, and to further lift our profit margin,” Sartorius CEO Joachim Kreuzburg, Ph.D., said in a statement.

The statement also said company management projected “significant growth in sales revenue, and a continued rise in profitability for 2013 as well.”

Sales revenue climbed year-to-year by 15.4% (11.7% at constant exchange rates), to €845.7 million ($1.14 billion) in 2012, with six percentage points attributable to its liquid-handling business, acquired in 2011 from Biohit. More than half of Sartorius revenue came from its Bioprocess Solutions Division, whose sales ballooned 15.6% (11.8% at CER) to €474.2 million ($639.2 million).

“Demand was especially high for single-use products for biopharmaceutical manufacture, and the division posted solid growth for its equipment business with biotech production systems, above all in North America,” the company said in a statement.

Asia accounted for a 13% rise in sales, compared with an 8.6% uptick in Europe blamed on the continent’s weaker economies.

Performing even better that bioprocess solutions was Sartorius’ Lab Products and Services Division, which sells lab instruments and lab consumables. Its sales zoomed 20.1% (17.1% at CER) to €268.9 million ($362.4 million).

Underlying net profit after accounting for noncontrolling interest, and excluding noncash amortization and additional effects from valuation adjustments of derivative financial instruments, increased 19.1% year-to-year, to €62.9 million ($84.8 million) in 2012.