FRANKFURT, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S.-German biotechnology
company Qiagen NV said on Thursday it was not currently
affected by the latest supply chain bottlenecks as it had
already been stockpiling supplies at its production facilities
amid pandemic-related uncertainties.
The company, which makes genetic diagnostics kits including
COVID-19 tests, can rely on its existing supplies for a few more
weeks despite bottlenecks due to the recent pandemic outbreak in
China, finance chief Roland Sackers told a news conference.
"Of course, in the medium term, we are also dependent on
components that have to arrive. But the lockdown, especially in
Shanghai, must be resolved soon," Sackers said.
"Thank goodness we don't have any products now that are
highly perishable," the CFO added.
Qiagen's COVID-19 tests had helped it to boost sales in
2020-2021 and recover from a tough 2019 with profit warnings, a
slump in China business and a CEO departure, but it expects a
sales decline in 2022 as coronavirus testing demand wears down.
On Tuesday, Qiagen raised its 2022 sales guidance, saying it
now expected the figure to drop by 6% or less compared to its
previous forecast for a drop of around 8% - the first decline in
a full year since Qiagen has been listed.
The company said the reason for the upgrade was its
stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance as investments
in its non-COVID-19 product range were starting to pay off.
"The growth was driven by our very broad portfolio. It
really wasn't one particular product that we were able to
highlight," Sackers said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska, Editing by Miranda Murray and
Tomasz Janowski)