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Merck KGaA said Thursday that net profit for the third quarter increased marginally, while an increase in revenue was supported by the health-care and life-science divisions.
The Germany pharmaceuticals and chemicals company MRK, +1.28% made a profit of 343 million euros ($378.3 million) in the period, from EUR340 million the previous year. Net sales climbed 8.1% to EUR4.05 billion. On an organic basis net sales grew 5.7%.
Revenue from the health-care business increased 10%, helped by sales of its Mavenclad treatment as well as high demand for medicines in China. Life sciences earnings grew 12%.
The closely watched company metric Ebitda pre —or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before one-time items — totaled EUR1.11 billion, up from EUR963 million last year.
Merck said it now expects to report overall sales of between EUR15.7 billion and EUR16.3 billion for 2019, from between EUR15.3 billion and EUR15.9 billion. It cited the acquisition of Versum as driving the upgrade.
It continued to expect organic revenue growth of 3%-5% for the year. The company said it forecasts Versum to contribute EUR80 million-EUR90 million to Ebitda pre.
