Sartorius maintains growth momentum; profit growth exceeds expectations
The Group's sales revenue increased by 6.1% in the first half of the year
Regular business such as consumables continued to improve as expected
The bioprocess solutions sector grew by nearly 9%, while the laboratory sector remained relatively stable as expected
Double-digit growth in underlying EBITDA of approximately 12%; underlying EBITDA margin close to 30%
Group management confirms 2025 full-year performance guidance
GOETTINGEN, Germany, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Life Science Group Sartorius continued its profitable growth in the first six months of fiscal year 2025, with both sales revenue and profit margins increasing significantly.
"We are pleased with the results achieved in the first half of the year; the upward trend is continuing. As expected, we are seeing growth momentum in the high-margin consumables business for pharmaceuticals, which is particularly important to us," said Dr. Michael Grosse, CEO who took over the company on July 1. "Despite the difficult global environment, we are still on track to achieve our ambitious targets for this year. We understand the challenges our customers are currently facing and are fully prepared to respond: With rising cost pressures on healthcare systems around the world, customers are more focused than ever on improving the efficiency of the development and production of new therapies. With innovative technologies, Sartorius helps customers achieve valuable research results faster and improve production efficiency."
Group Business Development[1]
In the first six months of the current financial year, the Group’s sales revenues increased by 6.1% at constant exchange rates (reported: 5.2%) to €1,767 million. All business regions contributed to this growth: at constant exchange rates, the Americas region grew by 7.1% compared to the same period last year, EMEA[2] by 5.9% and Asia Pacific by 5.0%.
In the first half of this year, underlying EBITDA increased significantly by 11.9% to EUR 527 million, driven by volume and product mix as well as economies of scale. The corresponding margin increased by 1.7% to 29.8%.
Underlying net profit grew even more strongly, rising by 13.7 percent to EUR 169 million compared with EUR 148 million in the prior-year quarter. Basic earnings per ordinary share amounted to EUR 2.44 (previous year: EUR 2.15) and earnings per preferred share to EUR 2.45 (previous year: EUR 2.16).
As of June 30, 2025, the Group employed a total of 13,685 employees, a slight increase of 157 employees from the end of 2024 (December 31, 2024: 13,528 employees), mainly due to the additional hiring of production personnel.
The Sartorius Group's balance sheet and key financial indicators remain strong. As of June 30, 2025, the equity ratio is 37.8% (December 31, 2024: 38.6%). The net debt to underlying EBITDA ratio is planned to be further reduced to 3.8 (December 31, 2024: 4.0). The company invested EUR 161 million in research and development and production facilities worldwide, down from EUR 228 million in the same period last year, and the ratio of capital expenditure to sales revenue was 9.1% (previous year: 13.6%).
Bioprocess Solutions Business Development
The Bioprocess Solutions segment contributes more than three quarters of the Group's sales revenue, providing a wide range of innovative technologies for efficient and sustainable biopharmaceutical production, and its business continues to grow: in the first half of this year, sales revenue increased by 8.8% year-on-year (reported: 7.8%) to 1.435 billion euros. The high-margin disposable consumables business performed particularly well and was the main growth driver; at the same time, as expected, customers in the industry remained cautious in their investments in equipment and systems, which continued to have a certain impact on this business segment.
Due to the positive volume and product mix as well as economies of scale, the growth in underlying EBITDA was even more pronounced than sales revenue, increasing by 16.5% to EUR 453 million. The corresponding margin increased from 29.2% in the same period of 2024 to 31.6%.
In the first half of this year, the bioprocessing segment continued to enrich its product portfolio and help customers improve the efficiency of drug production processes. For example, the company cooperated with a major customer to launch two new modules of the continuous flow process platform, which not only greatly improved production efficiency, but also reduced resource consumption in the biopharmaceutical process.
Laboratory Products and Services Business Development
The Laboratory Products & Services segment, which focuses on life science research and pharmaceutical laboratory business, will still be affected by the weak downstream market in the first half of 2025. Customers across the industry remain cautious in their investments in laboratory instruments, which has a particularly significant impact on Sartorius' bioanalytical instrument business. In contrast, laboratory disposable consumables and service businesses have maintained good growth.
In the January-June 2025 period, the segment achieved sales of €332 million, down 4.0% year-on-year at constant exchange rates (reported: -4.8%), and underlying EBITDA of €74 million (previous year: €82 million), corresponding to a margin of 22.3% (previous year: 23.6%). The sales and earnings contribution of the microtissue specialist MatTek, acquired in early July, will be included in the segment's financial figures in the second half of the year.
In terms of new product launches, the laboratory segment further expanded its bioanalytical product portfolio in the first six months of this fiscal year to help pharmaceutical customers accelerate new drug development. New products include a new generation of imaging incubators for real-time observation of living cells, high-throughput cell analyzers for detailed and rapid analysis of cells, and systems for analyzing biomolecular interactions.
Fiscal 2025 outlook confirmed
Based on the performance in the first half of the year and the expectation of continued improvement in the market, the company's management confirmed the full-year performance guidance for 2025, and expected the group's organic sales revenue to grow by about 6%, of which the bioprocess solutions segment is expected to grow by about 7% and the laboratory products and services segment is expected to grow by about 1%. Given that market volatility is still higher than the average, the company currently estimates that the forecast range is plus or minus about two percentage points.
In terms of profitability, the company expects the Group's basic EBITDA margin to be approximately 29%-30% (last year: 28.0%), of which the Bioprocess Solutions segment is expected to increase to 31%-32% (last year: 29.3%), and the Laboratory Products and Services segment is expected to reach 22%-23% (last year: 22.9%).
The sales and margin forecasts do not include the impact of potential tariffs or related mitigation and remediation measures. Depending on the design, scope and duration of these measures, sales and margin trends may be affected to a certain extent in the short term. Management does not expect this to have any impact on Sartorius's strong market position and competitiveness.
The ratio of capital expenditure to sales revenue will remain the same as last year, at around 12.5%; the ratio of net debt to basic EBITDA will decrease to around 3.5.
[1] Sartorius has published alternative performance measures not defined by IFRS. These measures are established to improve the comparability of results across periods and within the same industry.
- Underlying EBITDA: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for non-recurring items
- Relevant net profit: profit for the period after deducting non-controlling interests and adjusted for extraordinary items and amortization as well as standard financial results and standard tax rates
- Basic earnings per share: the ratio of basic net income to the weighted average number of common or preferred shares outstanding
- Net Debt to Underlying EBITDA: The quotient of Net Debt to Underlying EBITDA for the last twelve months, including estimated amounts from acquisitions in the current period
[2] EMEA = Europe, Middle East and Africa
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the future development of the Sartorius Group. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could
Sartorius disclaims any obligation to update such statements in light of new information or future events.
This press release is a translation of the German original. Sartorius assumes no liability for the accuracy of this translation. The original German press release is legally binding.
As in previous years, all forecast figures are based on constant exchange rates. Management also points out that the industry has become significantly more dynamic and volatile in recent years. In addition, due to geopolitical developments, such as
The decoupling trend among countries is also increasing uncertainty, which leads to higher uncertainty in predicting business data.
Key performance indicators for the first half of 2025
group
Bioprocessing Solutions
Laboratory Products and Services
In millions of Euros
(unless otherwise stated)
2025
First half
2024
First half
Δ %
According to reports
Δ %
cc[1]
2025
First half
2024
First half
Δ %
According to reports
Δ %
cc[1]
2025
First half
2024
First half
Δ %
According to reports
Δ %
cc[1]
Sales revenue
Sales revenue
1,767.3
1,680.3
5.2
6.1
1,434.9
1,331.1
7.8
8.8
332.4
349.2
–4.8
–4.0
- Europe, Middle East and Africa[2]
731.8
690.8
5.9
5.9
601.6
550.1
9.4
9.4
130.2
140.7
–7.5
–7.8
- America[2]
638.4
602.7
5.9
7.1
529.3
491.4
7.7
8.9
109.1
111.3
–2.0
–0.7
- Asia Pacific[2]
397.1
386.8
2.7
5.0
304.0
289.6
5.0
7.5
93.2
97.2
–4.1
–2.3
Performance
EBITDA[3]
527.3
471.4
11.9
453.3
389.0
16.5
74.0
82.4
–10.2
EBITDA margin[3]
29.8
28.1
31.6
29.2
22.3
23.6
Related net profit[4]
168.7
148.4
13.7
Net profit[5]
81.0
60.9
33.0
Cash Flow
Cash flow from operating activities
289.4
346.8
-16.6
Free cash flow[6]
121.9
107.9
13.0
Financial data per share
Earnings per ordinary share[4] (EUR)
2.44
2.15
13.5
Earnings per preferred share[4] (EUR)
2.45
2.16
13.4
[1] Figures expressed in constant currencies eliminate the impact of exchange rate changes by applying the same exchange rate to the current and previous years.
[2] Based on customer location
[3] Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for non-recurring items
[4] Profit for the period excluding non-controlling interests and adjusted for extraordinary items and amortization as well as standard financial results and standard tax rates
[5] Excluding non-controlling shareholders’ interests
[6] Cash flow from operating activities minus cash flow from investing activities