MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siegfried (Zofingen, Switzerland) says net profit for the first half of 2020 shrunk 33.2% year on year (YOY) to 20.67 million Swiss francs (USD22.62 million) on revenue that was slightly lower at SFr388 million, down 1.4% YOY, said Chemweek.
The fall in profit is due mainly to higher cost of sales and negative currency effects, while the more resilient revenue performance is attributed to the company's crisis management that began in January, it says. Siegfried was able to largely maintain its production activities at all sites, it adds. Operating profit was down 24.9% for the period, to SFr30.79 million.
The company has "coped well with the significant challenges posed by COVID-19," says Wolfgang Wienand, Siegfried's CEO. Multiple national governments identified the company as a manufacturer of essential pharmaceutical products, creating the basis for the continued operation of its plants during the crisis, he says.
Sales of drug substances, a growth driver for Siegfried in 2019, were affected by COVID-19 but were still nearly 1% higher YOY in local currencies, the company says. Sales in the field of drug products grew by about 7% in local currencies, supported mainly by the business with aseptic filling, it says. Siegfried is currently generating three quarters of its sales from active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, and about one quarter with finished formulations, it notes.
Siegfried has confirmed its outlook for the full year 2020, expecting low single-digit percentage sales growth in local currencies and a stronger second half-year with a slight expansion of the core EBITDA margin, it says. Its medium-term expectations have also been confirmed, with expected growth in line with the market and an ambition to outgrow it in local currencies, it says.
As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose by 4.4% year on year in May 2020 . Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 5.4% in the first five months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-May. Production of benzene was 110,000 tonnes in May 2020, which equalled the figure a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 615,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 1.7% year on year.
MRC