Gerresheimer achieves all targets in 2014
Gerresheimer AG, one of the leading partners to the pharma and healthcare industry worldwide, brought financial year 2014 to a successful close.
Pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer Gerresheimer boosted reve-nues by 1.9% to EUR 1,290.0m in financial year 2014 (December 1, 2013 to November 30, 2014). At constant exchange rates, purely organic growth in the Company’s revenues was 3.7%. Most recently, Gerresheimer had projected organic revenue growth of around 4% for 2014. The Company achieved this increase in revenues largely with plastic pharmaceutical packaging as well as products for the simple and safe administration of medicines, such as insulin pens, asthma inhalers and prefillable syringes.
As expected, sales of glass pharmaceutical primary packaging slowed somewhat, particularly due to the weakness of the US market. Growth in the market for cosmetic glass packaging was restrained, while sales of laboratory glassware picked up slightly.
The Company’s adjusted EBITDA came to EUR 253.4m in financial year 2014. The adjusted EBITDA of EUR 258.5m in 2014 at constant exchange rates marginally exceeded the target corridor of EUR 255m to EUR 258m. The adjusted EBITDA margin improved from 19.1% in the prior year to 19.5%, after deducting other operating income from a subsidiary’s put option. Net income went up by 6.4% to EUR 72.9m.
The Company is further expanding production capacity for drug delivery systems such as insulin pens and asthma inhalers, especially in the USA and Czech Republic. In fall 2014, Gerresheimer opened the third development center across the globe in China. A new plant for the manufacture of injection vials and ampoules currently under construction in India is scheduled to open in 2015.
In the United States, a large facility will be completely refitted in 2015, and production technologies are to be further standardized and improved in numerous other plants around the world.
– Our future success depends on continually improving products, processes and quality. We are investing worldwide to ensure that we continue to grow profitably, said Mr. Röhrhoff.
– Megatrends are the growth driver in the global healthcare market: The world’s population is increasing, and many people are now living much longer. Emerging markets are seeing healthcare systems improve, so more medicines are being sold. Sales of generic drugs are growing worldwide. Acute and chronic illnesses are on the rise. At the same time, the standards of quality demanded by patients, pharmaceutical compa-nies and regulators are becoming more stringent. New medicines are being developed, requiring new and higher standards of packaging. Self-medication is also becoming ever more important. As a supplier of high-quality pharmaceutical packaging and innovative products enabling safe and easy administration of drugs, Gerresheimer benefits from all of these megatrends.