FRANKFURT: German pharmaceutical and specialty materials group Merck KGaA on Thursday guided more cautiously for 2025 earnings, citing the macro-economic and geopolitical environment as well as foreign-exchange headwinds.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted for one-off items, would likely reach between 5.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) and 6.4 billion this year, compared with 6.07 billion euros reported for 2024.
It had previously issued a target range of between 6.1 billion euros and 6.6 billion.
“The slight adjustment to the guidance in Life Science, Merck’s biggest business sector, is also related to the current uncertainties around tariffs,” the company said in a statement, referring to a division that makes biotech lab equipment and supplies.
First-quarter adjusted EBITDA gained 5.6% to 1.54 billion euros, the group said, slightly ahead of an analyst consensus of 1.51 billion posted on the company’s website.
Merck last month struck a deal to buy U.S. biotech company SpringWorks Therapeutics for $3.9 billion to add rare cancer therapies ahead of expected revenue losses linked to expiring drug patents.
On Wednesday, it dropped a surcharge on orders of lab equipment and substances within China following the U.S.-China agreement to pause sky-high tariffs on each other.
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