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“2023 was a very unusual and challenging year for our industry. Customer destocking and other factors such as very weak demand in China had a longer and more pronounced impact on the business than initially anticipated. We therefore ended the year with a decline in sales revenue, while profitability remained at a healthy level and above the pre-pandemic mark due to an adjusted cost base. Many customers are further advanced in optimizing their inventories. Business has thus picked up since the third quarter, and we expect this trend to gradually intensify in the course of 2024.”

Chairman’s Message


Sales revenue

€3,395.7m

in constant FX: -16.6%


Underlying EBITDA

€962.7m

-31.7%


Order intake

€3,066.9m

in constant FX: -21.5%


Employees

14,614

-1,328


Market capitalization

~€20.5bn

-15.0%

Group Business Development and Divisions


After the pandemic-related extraordinary business and inventory buildup by customers led to strong additional growth momentum in the years 2020 to 2022, particularly in the Bioprocess Solutions division and to a lesser extent in the laboratory business, the temporary normalization of demand expected by the company management set in during the reporting year.

Group Business Development

Bioprocess Solutions


In the Bioprocess Solutions Division, Sartorius offers a broad product portfolio that covers all steps in the production of a biopharmaceutical. The company has held leading market positions for years in its core technologies, such as filtration, fermentation, cell cultivation and fluid management.

Business Development of Bioprocess Solutions

Lab Products & Services


The Lab Products & Services Division offers laboratories in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries as well as at academic research institutes innovative solutions for bioanalytics, in addition to premium laboratory products, consumables and services. Sartorius is among the market leaders in laboratory balances, pipettes and lab consumables.

Business Development of Lab Products & Services

Outlook


Based on the slight recovery in demand since the end of the third quarter of 2023 and the market outlook forecast by industry observers, Sartorius expects to grow profitably in 2024 and beyond.

2024

Forecast

Against the backdrop of still somewhat unstable market trends and therefore limited visibility, management forecasts an increase in Group sales revenue in the mid to high single-digit percentage range, with a non-organic contribution accounting for around 1.5 percentage points. In terms of profitability, management anticipates the underlying EBITDA margin to rise to slightly more than 30%, compared with the prior-year figure of 28.3%.

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2028

Medium-term outlook until 2028

Sartorius intends to continue its profitable growth path in the long term and expects to grow faster than the market. According to the new medium-term targets, the Group plans to achieve average annual sales revenue growth in the low-teens percentage range over the five-year period to 2028 of which acquisitions are anticipated to contribute around a fifth. The underlying EBITDA margin is also expected to increase and reach around 34% in 2028.

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