Germany's Merck posts flat 3rd-qtr sales and earnings decline

The shares of German life sciences group Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) rose 1.2% to 93.48 euros in early trading, when it released third-quarter 2017 financial results.

Group sales increased in the third quarter by 0.1% to 3.7 billion euros ($4.28 billion), thus maintaining the year-earlier level. Sales grew organically by 4.2% thanks to the Healthcare and Life Science business sectors. However, this was offset by negative foreign exchange effects amounting to –3.7%, which stemmed mainly from the weaker US dollar against the euro. Portfolio changes caused sales to decline by –0.4%. Geographically, all regions contributed to the organic sales growth of the Group.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) pre-exceptional, Merck's key earnings indicator, fell in the third quarter by -8.3% to 1.1 billion euros, broadly in line with market expectations. This was mainly due to higher R&D costs in the Healthcare business sector and to the normalization of market shares in the Liquid Crystals business. Net income soared by 41.1% to € 645 million. Earnings per share pre-exceptional decreased 11.2% to 1.51 euros.