21. August 2019 Eppendorf AG: Positive first half-year 2019

The globally active Eppendorf Group charted a strong first half-year in 2019 with a significant surge in Group sales to €378.5 million (prior year: €335.6 million). This positive development corresponds to an organic increase in sales of 12.8% (8.8% in local currencies). All of the company’s market regions contributed to this very good development, but sales growth of around 20% in China and 15% in North America was particularly remarkable. Owing to extensive and continuous investments, income from operations (EBIT) declined slightly during the first half of the year to €66.7 million compared with last year (prior year: €67.3 million), amounting to an EBIT margin of 17.6% (prior year: 20.0%). "Eppendorf profited from a generally good market environment during the first half of 2019," explained Thomas Bachmann, President & CEO of Eppendorf AG. "Moreover, we see that Eppendorf's strategic reorientation is taking effect and enabling additional growth." This was particularly noteworthy, Bachmann added, because Eppendorf's employees at all its facilities around the world had succeeded in accelerating the company's growth course once again despite the additional effort required by the changes at Eppendorf. "We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all our employees worldwide for this extraordinary commitment," he said.

Outlook

Thanks to the very strong development during the first half-year and the positive market environment, Eppendorf assumes that it will reach its ambitious growth targets for the entire year and that the company will once again grow faster than the market. As part of the targeted implementation of its company strategy, Eppendorf is continuing to invest heavily in new product and service solutions as well as in digitalization and new business models. This also applies to expansions in production capacity and infrastructure at its German sites in Hamburg, Oldenburg in Holstein, Leipzig and Jülich as well as at the Enfield site, USA. These construction projects represent important efforts in the company's push for further profitable and sustainable growth. In view of the higher costs planned for the infrastructure measures and given comparable exchange rates for the entire year of 2019, the company assumes that EBIT in 2019 will remain at or around the prior-year level of €153.7 million. Source: Eppendorf Press Release from August 20th, 2019, https://corporate.eppendorf.com/en/news-media/newsroom/?layer=/en/press-releases/20082019-eppendorf-ag-with-positive-first-half-year-2019/