Sartorius has raised its guidance citing growing demand for bioprocessing tech and lab services and the positive impact of acquisitions.

Group revenue for the nine months to the end of September was €1.68 billion, up 23.9% on the comparable period last year. Bioprocess Solutions generated €1.28 billion, up 27.7%, while laboratory products and services brought in €391 million, up 13%.

Sartorius said a general increase demand and the positive impact of recent takeovers were the major drivers.

Image: iStock/syahrir maulana

The COVID-19 pandemic also had a positive impact on bioprocess solutions revenues according to a company spokesman.

He told us “Most of the firms developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines use Sartorius technology and products.

“However, this generated just additional momentum to our overall strong and profitable growth. We saw high demand for nearly our entire product range. Due to the high demand we have of course ramped up our production capacities.”

Lab services

In contrast, Sartorius’ laboratory products and services division was negatively impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

However, the firm said growth in bioanalytics and the contribution from the proteins analysis business bought from Danaher helped it achieve “robust development over the nine-month period in spite of the difficult first half due to the pandemic.”

Based on the growth Sartorius predicted full year revenue growth of 22 to 26 percent, again citing the higher demand and acquisitions as the basis for its forecast.

“As projected so far, the non-organic contribution to this growth by Biological Industries and the portfolio acquired from Danaher should amount to a good 1.5 percentage points and around 5 percentage points, respectively.”

The revised forecast comes a few weeks after Sartorius said it planned to buy BIA Separations. However, the firm said the takeover would not have an impact on its revenue for the year.