Germany’s Merck KGaA Q3 profit surges 45% on strong sales

26 October 2010 07:13  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)---Germany’s Merck KGaA said on Tuesday its third-quarter profit after tax surged 45% year on year to €215m ($299m) as sales jumped by a quarter.

Revenues stood at €2.4bn for the three months ending September 2010, with operating profit soaring 64% to €363.5m, the specialty chemicals and pharmaceutical producer said in a statement.

The company’s chemical business had an 81% jump in revenues to €919m, boosted by the acquisition of US-based life science firm Millipore, it said.

The segment booked €162m in operating profit, up 74% year on year, the company said.

In the first nine months of the year, Merck generated €596m in profit after tax on revenues of €6.74bn.

Merck said it had scaled down its operating profit growth forecast for the whole of 2010 to 70% from 90% previously, expecting some weakness in its liquid crystals business.

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By: Pearl Bantillo
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