Sartorius Group closed the first nine months of 2006 with significant gains in sales revenue and earnings
Business with filters and additional disposables for the biopharmaceutical industry showed a particularly successful development.
Group sales revenue for the nine-month period rose 9.2% to 386.0 million euros from 353.5 million euros a year ago.
Currency-adjusted sales revenue grew 9.0%.
The strongest regional growth impulses came from North America; within the product segments, business with disposables for biopharmaceutical applications showed particularly successful development as it already did in the previous quarters.
At 379.4 million euros, order intake was above the year-earlier figure of 365.3 million euros (up 3.9%; currency adjusted: up 3.7%).
At the end of three quarters, Sartorius increased its earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) by 26.4% to 35.0 million euros from 27.7 million euros posted for the period a year ago.
Accordingly, the Ebit margin rose by more than one percentage point from 7.8% to 9.1%.
At 18.9 million euros, net profit was also significantly higher than the year-earlier figure of 13.5 million euros (up 39.4%).
Earnings per share climbed from 0.79 euro a year ago to 1.11 euros.
Sartorius is on track with its program for expanding group locations in Goettingen, Germany; Beijing, China; and Bangalore, India.
Capital expenditures of 10.0 million euros in 2005 doubled to 20.4 million euros in the reporting period.
Despite higher capital expenditures, Sartorius achieved a positive nine-month net cash flow of 10.6 million euros (previous year: 15.8 million euros).
