GÖTTINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Inventory adjustments by customers and the extensive discontinuation of the corona business weighed heavily on pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius in the first quarter. In addition, higher costs resulted in lower profitability. Sartorius's performance was weaker than analysts had expected. However, according to a press release on Thursday, management assumes that the normalization effects will no longer play a significant role in the second half. Annual targets for 2023 were confirmed. The share price nevertheless slumped.

With a drop of more than ten percent to 346 euros, the share continued its downward trend since February, bringing up the rear in the Dax. Thursday's slide in the share price means that the gains made in the first few weeks of the year are now gone. The share has come a long way from its former highs above 600 euros toward the end of 2021, when the pandemic at Sartorius caused a special boom. Investors who have been invested since then have to book a discount of around 45 percent.

Sartorius' first-quarter order intake, adjusted for foreign exchange, fell almost a third to 765 million euros. In an initial reaction, JPMorgan analyst Richard Vosser particularly assessed the surprisingly sluggish demand in the Bioprocess Solutions (BPS) division as negative. Here, the Group also offers technologies for the production of biopharmaceuticals as well as vaccines. It accounts for the bulk of Sartorius business. According to Vosser, the weak order intake in this segment is causing uncertainty with regard to business development in 2023, which even the confirmation of the annual targets will not change.

In terms of sales, the Göttingen-based company achieved a total of 903 million euros in the opening quarter, 13 percent less than a year earlier. Excluding the corona business, the decline was in the mid-single-digit percentage range, it said.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted Ebitda) adjusted for special items reached 272 million euros, 22 percent below the prior-year figure. The corresponding margin was 30.1 after 34.1 percent. At the bottom line, Sartorius earned 93 million euros, even less than half of the previous year's figure.

For 2023, the Executive Board continues to anticipate a reduced growth rate. On the basis of constant exchange rates, sales revenue is expected to increase in the low single-digit percentage range. Excluding the corona-related business, sales revenue is expected to increase in the upper single-digit percentage range.

In 2022, Sartorius had still posted double-digit percentage growth. At the same time, management expects to generate almost no more sales revenue from corona-related business in the current year. Around one percentage point of growth is expected to come from acquisitions.

The operating margin for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization adjusted for special effects (adjusted Ebitda) in 2023 is expected to be at the level of the previous year, when it reached 33.8 percent./lew/mis/zb