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Investing.com -- Merck KGaA hiked its mid-term growth ambitions for its healthcare unit ahead of its capital markets day (CMD), saying it now expects annual organic sales to rise in the low- to mid single-digit percentage range. It previously guided for “slight growth.”
Life science is now seen growing in the mid- to high single digits, compared with a 7% to 9% goal previously.
Groupwide, the company is targeting mid single-digit organic sales growth over the period.
Merck also expects its EBITDA pre-margin to widen by around 100 basis points over the period.
The company’s shares fell nearly 3% in Frankfurt trading.
The company confirmed that it still aims to generate between €20.5 billion and €21.7 billion in net sales in 2025, a target it has already cut twice this year and which is well below the €25 billion goal set at its 2021 capital markets day."
We had made a number of assumptions on the pandemic that never materialized,” Chief Executive Belen Garijo said in an interview.
Garijo, who will step down at the end of April, said the group has “appetite for M&A with the priority on life science.”
She added that Merck has identified areas for possible cooperation with the U.S. government as tariffs take effect, mentioning fertility treatments as a mutual area of interest and noting that direct distribution to U.S. patients is under consideration.
Stifel analysts said that while the top-line ambition remains largely unchanged, management has sharpened its margin focus.
“MRK’s ~28% EBITDA pre margin target has been updated with an expectation of ~100bps expansion,” they wrote, viewing this as a sign that cost discipline will sit more centrally in execution.
They also highlighted that the newly defined rare disease franchise is seen as a key earnings lever, pointing to “a newly established Rare Diseases pillar, which is expected to deliver dd mid-term growth.”
In life science, analysts said Merck’s reorganisation signals an intent to integrate more deeply with customer workflows and backed management’s move to acquire chromatography assets from JSR as a technology-led bolt-on.
On the electronics side, where Merck is repositioning itself more explicitly around semiconductor solutions and AI-related demand, the analysts said the company is now “presenting Electronics as a pure-play, AI-enabling business with deeper customer integration.”