Germany's Gerresheimer posts Q1 net income of €6.8M, down from €7.1M a year ago, but revenues up by 13.6% to €268.8M on high demand for pharmaceutical packaging

Graziela Medina Shepnick

DÜSSELDORF, Germany , April 12, 2012 (press release) – - Group revenues climb 13.6 percent to EUR 268.8m in Q1 2012
- Adjusted EBITDA rises by 6.2 percent to EUR 44.3m
- Adjusted earnings per share up to EUR 0.32
- Acquisition of Indian company Neutral Glass strengthens position in the emerging markets
- Revenue forecast for 2012 raised two percentage points to between 7 and 8 percent at constant exchange rates

Gerresheimer AG, one of the leading worldwide partners of the pharma and healthcare industry, achieved strong growth in revenues in the first quarter of the financial year 2012. "We've got off to a very good start and are able to report excellent growth in revenues. Global demand for pharmaceutical packaging and products for the safe and reliable administration of medications is very high," said Uwe Röhrhoff, Chief Executive Officer of Gerresheimer AG.

Gerresheimer has experienced particularly strong growth in revenues in the first quarter of the 2012 financial year (December 1, 2011, to November 30, 2012). Its revenues increased by 13.6 percent to EUR 268.8m. Currency effects had no impact on revenues. Core business operations, comprising pharmaceutical primary packaging products and medical devices made of glass and plastic, made an important contribution to this growth. However, the cosmetics and laboratory glass businesses also had a positive start to the year.

Gerresheimer's adjusted EBITDA was EUR 44.3m in the first quarter of 2012, which is 6.2 percent higher than the prior year figure. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.5 percent in Q1 2012, which is down from 17.7 percent in the prior year's first quarter. Net income of EUR 6.8m is slightly below the prior year's EUR 7.1m. Earnings per share were EUR 0.16 (prior year: EUR 0.20). Adjusted earnings per share have increased by EUR 0.02 to EUR 0.32 compared with the same prior year quarter.

"We are continuously expanding our operations in the emerging markets. Our most recent acquisition of the Indian company Neutral Glass is an important milestone in our efforts to build our presence in the fast-growing Indian market," explained Uwe Röhrhoff.

On April 2, 2012, Gerresheimer has signed a contract on acquiring a majority shareholding in the Indian company Neutral Glass. The closing is expected in the short term. Neutral Glass is a leading manufacturer of glass pharmaceutical primary packaging products. In the 2010/11 financial year, Neutral Glass generated annual revenues of approximately EUR 15m and it has some 600 employees. After opening a Sales & Service Office in Mumbai in 2010, the acquisition of a company with local production was a strategically important move for Gerresheimer.

Outlook

Gerresheimer has uplifted its revenue growth forecast for the 2012 financial year to reflect the sharp increase in revenues at the beginning of the year and the acquisition of the Indian company. It is now expecting 7 to 8 percent revenue growth at constant exchange rates during 2012. At the beginning of the year, the revenue growth forecast was 5 to 6 percent. The adjusted EBITDA margin forecast remains the same at about 19.5 percent. An investment volume of around EUR 100m is still budgeted for the 2012 financial year.

Further information on Neutral Glass can be found: http://ots.de/LDbr5

You can read the online annual report at: http://annualreport2011.gerresheimer.com

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.