SRT Sartorius AG

   By Joshua Kirby 
 

Sartorius expects declining sales and reduced profitability for the year, it said late Friday, as a postpandemic slump continues to drag the German pharmaceutical firm.

Sales should be lower in the low-to-mid teens of percent in 2023 than in the previous year, after climbing in 2022 to more than 4 billion euros ($4.38 billion). Sartorius had previously guided for revenue growth in the low single digits this year.

Sartorius, which also makes laboratory equipment, said the worse outlook is down to a lasting reduction in customers' inventories after the Covid-19 boom, as well as reduced production capacities.

As a result of the expected lower sales volumes, the group's margin of underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization should contract to around 30% from 33.8% last year, it said. The company had previously guided for a stable margin on the year.

Sartorius made a weak start to 2023 when it reported its first update in April, missing analysts' forecasts for first-quarter sales and Ebitda as a result of destocking among customers.

The company meanwhile said it "views the current demand normalization after the pandemic as a phase that only temporarily overshadows the highly positive growth drivers of the life science and biopharma markets," and backed its medium-term targets to 2025.

Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 19, 2023 01:27 ET (05:27 GMT)

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