News | July 22, 2010

Half Year Results 2010: Lonza With Improved Order Placement And Contract Signing

Lonza
  • Sales of CHF 1 301 million at a similar level to H1 2009 (-2.1%) due to an expectedly weak first quarter in Custom Manufacturing
  • EBIT increased by 6.1% to CHF 173 million and net profit increased by 14.4 % to CHF 135 million
  • Re-engineering project fully on track to deliver all results by March 2011
  • Successful contract signing confirms long-term outsourcing trend and viability of Lonza's strategy

Lonza delivers a solid business performance in all sectors despite volatility in the area of exchange rates, uncertainties in customers' innovations and fluctuation in non-pharmaceutical markets in the first half of 2010. Demand for Life Science Ingredients products improved compared with 2009. Increasing margin pressure in some areas was more than offset by volume growth. Visibility improved thanks to firmly placed orders and new contracts signed in Custom Manufacturing. Overall, new contracts and orders were at a considerably higher level than a year ago, driving stronger business growth in the second half of the year and through 2011. Increased capacity utilization in large-scale biological manufacturing is a consequence of firm order placements since March 2010. However, de-stocking in Custom Manufacturing continued in the first half, and volatility is expected to continue, especially for the small-scale business. Bioscience overall is on track; the decline in sales is due to the expected underutilization in Therapeutic Cell Solutions. Demand from academia and industry has improved but is not yet fully recovered, with companies still reducing R&D budgets.

Outlook
In an environment of ongoing market volatility and macro-economic uncertainties, we were able to stabilize the business. Lonza's life-science strategy will continue to deliver long-term growth through an increased project pipeline, new signed contracts and an intact outsourcing trend, and investments in plants and technologies. We will continue to generate new business which will improve the profitability of our assets and strengthens our cash flow generation.

For more detailed information, please refer to the Half-Year Report 2010 published today. http://www.lonza.com/group/en/company/news/newsreleases.html

About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Its products and services span its customers' needs from research to final product manufacture. Lonza is the global leader in the production and support of active pharmaceutical ingredients both chemically as well as biotechnologically. Biopharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is a leader in cell-based research, endotoxin detection and cell therapy manufacturing. Lonza is also a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition, hygiene, preservation, agro and personal care markets.

Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. In 2009, Lonza had sales of CHF 2.69 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.

SOURCE: Lonza