0NIQ Sartorius Ag

GÖTTINGEN, Germany, Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sartorius, a leading international technology partner of biopharmaceutical research and the industry, has continued on its profitable growth track in fiscal 2019. The Group grew by double digits in sales revenue, order intake and earnings, recording gains in both divisions and across all regions.

According to preliminary figures, Group sales revenue rose in constant currencies by 14.8% (reported: +16.7%) to 1,827.0 million euros. Growth was almost entirely organic as the acquisition of the cell culture media specialist Biological Industries completed in December 2019 contributed only marginally to this increase. Order intake¹⁾ also rose by 14.8% in constant currencies (reported: +16.7%) to 1,939.5 million euros.

"In view of revenue, earnings and jobs, Sartorius developed very dynamically again in 2019 and even better than expected at the beginning of the year. We were also successful in expanding our portfolio and in adding further key technologies through the acquisition of Biological Industries," said CEO Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg. "For Sartorius, 2020 will be a special year, not only because of our 150-year company anniversary. We aim to further grow profitably and reach the two-billion-euro mark in consolidated sales for the first time, as we had already announced in 2012 in our mid-term forecast for 2020."

Underlying EBITDA¹⁾ rose overproportionately again relative to sales by 22.4% to 495.8 million euros; the respective margin was 27.1% (previous year: 25.9%) in line with our guidance. As expected, slightly less than one percentage point of this increase was attributable to the IFRS 16²⁾ Standard required to be applied for the first time in 2019. Relevant net profit¹⁾ rose by 19.2% from 175.6 million euros a year ago to 209.3 million euros, yielding earnings per ordinary share of 3.06 euros (PY: 2.56 euros) and earnings per preference share of 3.07 euros (PY: 2.57 euros).

Following the further expansion of our workforce in customer-facing functions, research and development, as well as operations, the number of Group employees rose significantly again by 11% or 900 people to 9,016.

Business development in the regions

All regions grew faster than in the previous year, contributing to the positive development of the Sartorius Group. EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) increased its revenue by 11.2% to 733.4 million euros, accounting for 40% of the Group's consolidated sales. The Americas region contributing around 35% to Group revenue achieved a 17.4% increase in sales to 629.9 million euros. In Asia | Pacific, Sartorius earned sales of 463.7 million euros (+17.4%), which equates to a share of around 25% of Group revenue.

(All growth rates for the regions are in constant currencies.)

Key financial indicators

The Sartorius Group continued to make substantial investments in expanding its global capacity, even though, as expected, its CAPEX ratio¹⁾ decreased upon the completion of several large projects to 12.3% (PY: 15.2%). Due to strong net cash flow from operating activities and despite the intensive investment activity and successful acquisition, the company's ratio of net debt to underlying EBITDA¹⁾ was 2.0 and thus below the prior-year figure of 2.4. Equity rose from 973.4 million euros to 1,081.2 million euros at year-end. In connection with IFRS 16, the equity ratio decreased slightly from 38.5% as of December 31, 2018, to 38.0%. Sartorius therefore continues to have a very sound balance sheet and financial base.

Business development of the divisions

The Bioprocess Solutions Division that offers a wide array of innovative technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals exceeded its already strong prior-year performance, increasing its sales revenue in constant currencies by 18.1% (reported: +20.0%) to 1,372.1 million euros. This gain was fueled by ongoing strong demand across all product categories, particularly in project business in Asia. The division's order intake¹⁾ rose significantly as well by 18.0% (reported: +19.9%) to 1,479.3 million euros.

Underlying EBITDA¹⁾ for Bioprocess Solutions increased overproportionately to sales by 24.5% to 406.8 million euros. The division's respective margin rose due to economies of scale and as a consequence of the change in IFRS 16, from 28.6% to 29.6%.²⁾

The Lab Products & Services Division that specializes in technologies and products for laboratories in the pharma sector and in life science research showed robust performance in a partly challenging economic environment, achieving sales growth of 5.9% (reported: +7.5%) to 454.9 million euros. The division's order intake¹⁾ increased by 5.7% (reported: +7.3%) to 460.3 million euros.

Underlying EBITDA for Lab Products & Services rose year over year by 14.0% to 89.0 million euros. The corresponding margin was positively affected by IFRS 16²⁾ and stood at 19.6%, up from the previous year's level of 18.5%.

(All growth rates for sales revenue and order intake are given in constant currencies.)

Profitable growth projected for 2020

Sartorius projects that it will increase Group sales in fiscal 2020 on the basis of constant currencies by 10% to 13%, with the acquisition of Biological Industries, completed at the end of 2019, expected to contribute approx. 1.5 percentage points to this growth. Regarding profitability, Sartorius forecasts that its underlying EBITDA margin¹⁾ will increase year over year from 27.1% to about 27.5%. The ratio of capital expenditures (CAPEX) to sales revenue¹⁾ is expected to be around 10% (PY: 12.3%).

For the Bioprocess Solutions Division, the Executive Board projects sales growth of 11% to 14%, with consolidation of Biological Industries expected to contribute about one percentage point to this gain. With respect to the division's underlying EBITDA margin¹⁾, management assumes that it will increase to around 30.0% (PY: 29.6%).

The Lab Products & Services Division will likely increase its sales revenue by 7% to 10%, with Biological Industries projected to contribute around 2.5 percentage points to growth. For this division, the underlying EBITDA margin is forecasted at around 20.0% (PY: 19.6%).

The above forecast does not consider the acquisition of parts of Danaher's life science portfolio, which was announced on October 21, 2019, and is currently undergoing antitrust clearance. Following the closing of this transaction, presently expected around the end of the first quarter of 2020, management will update its full-year guidance accordingly.

All forecasts are based on constant currencies, as in the past years.

1) Sartorius publishes alternative performance measures that are not defined by international accounting standards. These are determined with the aim of improving the comparability of business performance over time and within the industry.

-  Underlying EBITDA: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and adjusted for extraordinary items

-  Order intake: all customer orders contractually concluded during the respective reporting period

-  Relevant net profit: profit for the period after non-controlling interest, adjusted for extraordinary items and non-cash amortization, as well as based on the normalized financial result and corresponding tax effects

-  CAPEX ratio: investment payments in relation to sales revenue for the same period. Since 2019 and as a result of the change in IFRS 16 accounting principles, CAPEX has been based on cash flow instead of balance sheet computation; CAPEX ratio restated for 2018: 14.9%

2) IFRS 16 required to be applied as of 2019 regulates accounting of lease contracts. Ultimately, this has led to a somewhat extended balance sheet and thus to a slightly lower equity ratio. Further, this has resulted in reporting longer-term lease payments as depreciation and, accordingly, in a somewhat higher EBITDA, but does not entail any material changes concerning the Group's relevant net profit or earnings per share.

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the future development of the Sartorius Group. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Sartorius assumes no liability for updating such statements in light of new information or future events. This is a translation of the original German-language press release. Sartorius shall not assume any liability for the correctness of this translation. The original German press release is the legally binding version.

The numbers mentioned above are still subject to final review by the auditors.

Follow Sartorius on Twitter @Sartorius_Group and on LinkedIn.

Conference call

Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO, and Rainer Lehmann, CFO, will discuss the company's preliminary business results with analysts and investors on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. Central European Time (CET) in a teleconference. You may register by clicking on the following link:

https://services.choruscall.de/DiamondPassRegistration/register?confirmationNumber=6723567&linkSecurityString=63f6a9ef9

Alternatively, you can dial into the teleconference, without registering in advance, at:

+49 (0) 69-566-03-7000

The presentation will be available on the same day starting at 3:15 p.m. CET, for viewing on our website at:

https://www.sartorius.com/en/company/investor-relations/sartorius-ag-investor-relations

Financial calendar

February 18, 2020    Annual press conference
March 26, 2020       Annual Shareholders' Meeting
April 21, 2020         Publication of first-quarter figures (January to March 2020)

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Preliminary Key Performance Indicators for Fiscal 2019

^{1)  In constant currencies, abbreviated as "cc"}

^{2)  Acc. to the customer's location}

^{3)  Underlying EBITDA: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and adjusted for extraordinary items}

^{4)  Relevant net profit: profit for the period after non-controlling interest, adjusted for extraordinary items and non-cash amortization, as well as based on the normalized financial result and corresponding tax effects}

A profile of Sartorius

The Sartorius Group is a leading international partner of biopharmaceutical research and the industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, the Group's Lab Products & Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. The Bioprocess Solutions Division with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions helps customers to manufacture biotech medications and vaccines safely and efficiently. The Group has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies. In fiscal 2019, the company earned sales revenue of some 1.83 billion euros according to preliminary figures. At the end of 2019, more than 9,000 people were employed at the Group's approximately 60 manufacturing and sales sites, serving customers around the globe.

Contact

Petra Kirchhoff 
Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
+49 (0)551-308-1686
petra.kirchhoff@sartorius.com

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SOURCE Sartorius AG