Lonza confirmed to solid quarter, full-year forecasts

The life science group, Lonza to be confirmed after the first quarter, its projections for 2019. While the supply business for the pharmaceutical industry, delivery good, had to fight the Basler in the case of specialty chemicals, with challenges.

The company was started "solid" in the current year, said Lonza on Thursday, without Pay. Especially the core business in the Healthcare sector would have experienced a sustained positive momentum.

So, the only just in March, the newly formed Segment "Lonza Pharma Biotech & Nutrition have cut off" in comparison to the prior-year quarter "strong" and their own expectations. The interest in the various services of Lonza.

Ibex

in Particular, the recent large-scale project Lonzas in Visp, the modular production capacity complex of the "Ibex" on the main site of the group, has met with a good response from the customers: More than a year before commissioning of the equipment starting in 2020 available capacity for clinical manufacturing are already booked to 100 percent. "This high level of utilization, we are confident that we have a very competitive offer on the market," said Lonza.

"Ibex" is a generation project, it will include, in the Visp Area of land on the Bank of the Rhône in the maximum configuration, up to five buildings. The start shot was given to Lonza in July of 2017, the construction works of the sub-module "Ibex Dedicate". Pharmaceutical and Biotech customers of Lonza can rent space in the complex and the facilities of the company. You also benefit from the proximity of the contract manufacturer and its Expertise.

Lonza, according to the operation can be resumed as planned, the recruitment of skilled workers for the new facilities progressing as desired.

challenges in the chemical business

to fight The zyklischere Segment of the Lonza Specialty Ingredients (LSI), however, had challenges, it was said. In the range, for example, food and feed are located, additives or chemical intermediates for the agricultural sector.

The business of LSI suffered, according to Lonza, not only under a weaker demand, but also under raw material shortages and interruptions in the supply chain. The latter leads back Lonza on the Chinese environmental initiative, "Blue Sky", as well as a heavy Explosion in a Chinese chemical factory.

Lonza relates to important intermediate products from the Region. In the result of rising raw material costs could be passed on with varying degrees of success to customers. While this has succeeded in hygiene applications, this was in the case of agricultural products, limited to be the case.

The chemical business have developed, therefore, in the first quarter, worse than expected, said Lonza. The turnover has been only located at the level of the first quarter of 2018. After all, you have costs with cost reduction measures, the effects of higher raw-material "gradually softened".

"The result for the first quarter shows that the two segments of Lonza operate in very different markets and grow. Therefore, their results and the challenges should not be compared to each other," comments since the beginning of the current Lonza CEO Marc radio.

Lonza had already announced in February, the ongoing business portfolio review, fast forward. Current information is likely to according to follow the current state in the second half of 2019, held Lonza now on Thursday.

goals

Lonza confirmed, reaffirmed, especially in the pharmaceutical business, the annual targets for 2019. This revenue growth in the mid to high single-digit range, as well as a core EBITDA margin on a "consistently high level". 2018, called the operating profit margin stood at 27.3 per cent.

In force, the medium-term targets for 2022: to the referred to year, sales are expected to rise to 7.1 billion Swiss francs (2018: 5.5 billion) and core EBITDA margin at 30.5 percent.

(oli/sda)

Created: 18.04.2019, 07:24 PM