DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Gerresheimer felt the effects of continued destocking by pharma customers towards the end of 2023. Nevertheless, in some cases things went a little better than analysts had expected. For 2024, the specialty packaging manufacturer expects less growth, which is not surprising given the headwind from destocking of injection vials by pharma customers and the largely discontinued special coronavirus business. Group CEO Dietmar Siemssen remains optimistic in the medium term. The shares posted double-digit percentage gains in the first few minutes of trading on Thursday.

Most recently, they led the MDax with a plus of 8.8 percent to 97.95 euros. If the trend continues until the end of trading, they could thus break out of the range of around EUR 85 to just over EUR 95, in which the share price has mainly moved since November.

The company's outlook for the 2024 financial year (as at the end of November) is not as bad as feared and the forecasts for 2025 signal a strong acceleration, wrote analyst David Adlington from the bank JPMorgan in an initial reaction. James Vane-Tempest from investment house Jefferies was also convinced by the medium-term outlook. The market's profit expectations for 2025 are likely to rise, he wrote in a study.

For the financial year 2024, Gerresheimer CEO Siemssen is forecasting organic revenue growth - i.e. excluding exchange rate effects and acquisitions and disposals of parts of the company - of 5 to 10 percent. The operating result is expected to reach 430 to 450 million euros organically.

The destocking by customers from the pharmaceutical industry and the virtual elimination of Covid-related sales of injection vials will be particularly noticeable at the beginning of the still young financial year, CFO Bernd Metzner told the financial news agency dpa-AFX. However, excluding these effects, the momentum remains good, which should be seen in the second half of the year.

In the medium term, the Group intends to benefit from a high order backlog and the expansion of production capacities. The profitable business relating to sensitive biopharmaceutical drugs, which require special packaging, will also play an important role. The business with packaging, syringes and auto-injectors for GLP-1 drugs is also gaining momentum.

These diabetes and weight loss medications are currently booming, especially in the USA. Suppliers such as the Danish company Novo Nordisk and the US pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly are struggling to keep up with production. Gerresheimer aims to generate sales of over EUR 300 million by 2026/2027 with GLP-1-related products alone.

Against this backdrop, Gerresheimer is targeting organic sales growth of 10 to 15 percent in 2025, with an adjusted operating margin of at least 22 percent. In the medium term, the company is aiming for sales growth of at least 10% and a margin of 23% to 25%.

In 2023, growth fell short of the medium-term target due to destocking effects, fewer coronavirus-related lots and probably also lower resin prices. Gerresheimer passes on price fluctuations for this raw material, for example for plastic packaging, to customers. This therefore has no impact on profits.

In the final quarter, sales still rose by a good three percent, resulting in an increase in earnings of 9.5 percent to almost two billion euros for the financial year as a whole. On an organic basis - i.e. excluding portfolio and exchange rate effects - growth amounted to 10.4%. The average expectations of analysts were met with turnover and slightly exceeded with the operating result (adjusted EBITDA). This increased by 14.2 percent to 404.5 million euros.

Below the line, the MDax group achieved a net profit of a good 120 million euros, compared to around 102 million a year earlier. The dividend is set to remain stable at 1.25 euros per share./mis/jha/