Merck was still able to grow strongly during the pandemic. The forecast for the year as a whole is cautious.
The decline in corona revenues and the ongoing weakness in the sale of liquid crystals for screens hit the Darmstadt-based Dax group Merck at the start of the year.
Apart from takeovers and exchange rate effects, the Darmstadt-based company was only able to boost its sales slightly to around 5.3 billion euros after the group had grown strongly during the pandemic. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted Ebitda) adjusted for special effects fell by around three percent compared to the previous year to around 1.59 billion euros, as the group announced. Analysts had expected even less here. After taxes, profit fell to 800 million euros, after 884 million a year earlier.
“2023 will be a transitional year for us,” emphasized Merck CEO Belen Garijo, according to the announcement. The board of directors had already issued a cautious initial forecast in the spring, and now for the first time precisely quantified its goals for the first quarter. So this year sales should come out at 21.2 to 22.7 billion euros. In the previous year it was 22.2 billion euros. Adjusted operating profit is expected to fall to 6.1 to 6.7 billion euros compared to 6.8 billion last year.
Source: Stern
