Sartorius shares under premarket pressure: Sartorius’ sales and earnings fall more sharply than expected

Sartorius’ sales and earnings fell more sharply than the market had expected. The group, which is listed on the TecDAX and DAX, confirmed the forecast for the year that was lowered a month ago. After the corona-related business had increased growth in recent years, customers are now reducing their inventories and were more reluctant to invest due to free capacities.

“The first half of the year was consistently characterized by the aftermath of the pandemic,” said CEO Joachim Kreuzburg, according to the announcement. “The weak trend in incoming orders is lasting longer than originally expected in both divisions, but we are assuming that the order situation will gradually pick up over the course of the second half of the year.” The fundamental growth drivers of the Group’s markets are “continued to be extremely positive”.

Incoming orders from April to June fell by 35.2 percent to EUR 684.8 million. Group sales fell by 19.7 percent to EUR 832 million.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (operating EBITDA) fell by 29.8 percent to EUR 244.7 million. This resulted in an operating EBITDA margin of 29.4 percent after 33.7 percent in the same quarter of the previous year. Group profit collapsed by 48.2 percent to 86.3 million euros. Sartorius earned EUR 1.26 per preferred share, just under half as much as in the same period last year (2.44 percent).

Analysts had expected a consensus of sales of 874 million euros, adjusted operating EBITDA of 256 million euros and net income of 100 million euros.

On June 16, Sartorius lowered its outlook for the year as a whole, citing persistently weak demand dynamics. The group now expects a drop in sales in the low to mid-teens percentage range in 2023. Without taking into account the Corona business, sales are expected to decrease in the mid to high single-digit percentage range. Acquisitions, including the French biotech company Polyplus, which has just been taken over, are expected to contribute around 2 percentage points to sales development. Sartorius had previously announced further growth for 2023, albeit lower than in the previous year. The Group sees the operating EBITDA margin at around 30 percent, after 33.8 percent in the previous year.

In Friday’s pre-market trading on Tradegate, the Sartorius share was temporarily listed at EUR 313.90, around 3.4 percent below its XETRA close.

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)

Selected leverage products on Sartorius AG St.

With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the desired lever and we will show you suitable open-end products at Sartorius AG St.

Leverage must be between 2 and 20