Merck, which also makes pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals, said on Thursday it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) adjusted for one offs, to grow in the "high single-digit to low teens percentage range".

The Life Science unit, which supplies gear and chemicals for biotech labs, in December announced a combined $47 million investment at production facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, to produce supplies for developers of COVID-19 vaccines and lifesaving therapies.

This would begin to increase output from 2021, it said at the time, for products like filters and single-use plastic bags and tubes for bioreactors.

It added on Thursday that adjusted EBITDA in 2020 rose 18.6% to 5.2 billion euros ($6.27 billion), in line with average analyst expectations.

"Merck expects significantly positive contributions owing to the Covid-19 pandemic," it said.

Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA at its life science tools division, jumped 25.5% to 653 million euros, well above a market consensus of 619 million.A recovery at its electronics materials and drugs businesses, which started in the second half of 2020, will continue in 2021, it added.

($1 = 0.8295 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Caroline Copley)

By Ludwig Burger