MKKGY Merck KGaA (PK)

By Carlo Martuscelli

Merck KGaA (MRK.XE) said Thursday that net profit in the second quarter rose by 90% as net sales increased, and it backed its full-year outlook.

The German pharmaceuticals and chemicals company made a net profit of 471 million euros ($527.9 million), up from EUR247 million the prior-year period, on net sales that rose 6.9% to EUR3.97 billion. On an organic basis, net sales grew 5.6%.

The company said that all three of its business sectors contributed to topline growth. The life-science business in particular had a positive performance, achieving 9% organic sales growth, Merck said.

The closely watched company metric Ebitda pre--or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before one-time items--totaled EUR1.14 billion, up from EUR920 million last year.

The company backed its 2019 outlook. It continues to expect net sales for the year of between EUR15.3 billion and EUR15.9 billion. Ebitda pre for 2019 is forecast at between EUR4.15 billion and EUR4.35 billion.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2019 01:32 ET (05:32 GMT)

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