Merck sees sales and earnings improvement in Q1 2016

Merck has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2016, during which it recorded significant increases in sales and earnings.

The company's net sales for the three months came to 3.7 billion euros (2.86 billion pounds), up by 20.5 percent year on year, while its earnings increased by 27 percent to 1.1 billion euros.

A major component of this improvement was the positive impact of the recent acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, but the group also experienced encouraging signs of organic growth, particularly from its healthcare and life science divisions.

For the full year, Merck is anticipating that its full-year 2016 group net sales will increase to between 14.8 billion euros and 15 billion euros, and continues to expect slight organic sales growth. With the Sigma-Aldrich deal taken into account, Merck's portfolio-related increase in net sales for the year is expected to be in the low double-digit percentage range.

Stefan Oschmann, chairman of the executive board at Merck, said: "We started off 2016 well and have grown profitably. The integration of Sigma-Aldrich is progressing quickly and we are also right on target with our debt reduction."