SIAL (MM)

By Natascha Divac 

FRANKFURT--German drugs and chemicals company Merck KGaA on Thursday raised its outlook for 2015 to take account of its acquisition of U.S.-based Sigma-Aldrich and a jump in third-quarter profit, helped by currency gains and strong organic growth.

Third-quarter net profit soared to EUR364 million ($391.46 million) from EUR248.8 million a year earlier.

Merck's closely watched earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda before one-time items, jumped 10% to EUR944 million, helped by lower research and development costs, beating analysts' forecasts of EUR888 million.

Sales rose 6.8% to EUR3.1 billion, helped by currency gains. Analysts had expected EUR3.18 billion. Merck said the Asia-Pacific region was the main driver of sales, citing strong organic growth and significant currency gains.

"Our organic growth in all three business sectors and all regions shows that our strategy is bearing fruit," said Karl-Ludwig Kley, chairman of the Merck executive board.

Merck now sees 2015 net sales in a range of between EUR12.6 billion and EUR12.8 billion, up from a previous forecast of between EUR12.3 billion and EUR12.5 billion. Ebitda before one-time items is now seen in a range of EUR3.58 billion and EUR3.65 billion. Merck previously expected EUR3.45 billion to EUR3.55 billion.

The outlook now factors in the company's imminent $17 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Sigma-Aldrich Corp., a supplier of laboratory testing materials. Merck expects to obtain control of Sigma-Aldrich on Nov. 18, 2015.

Merck expects the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition to boost sales at the company and the life-sciences business. In addition, the EUR1.9 billion acquisition last year of U.K.-listed AZ Electronic Materials, a producer of high-purity specialty chemicals for the electronics market, will allow Merck to double its specialty-chemicals footprint in the U.S., the company had said.

Adjusted third-quarter Ebitda of Merck's specialty chemicals division Performance Materials surged 22.5% to EUR298 million, due in particular to a strong dollar, the company said.

Performance Materials has been driven by its global success in liquid crystals, which are used in display screens for televisions, smartphones and tablets.

Write to Natascha Divac at natascha.divac@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2015 07:41 ET (12:41 GMT)

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