Sales of bioreactors in Asia boost Sartorius

Processing equipment company Sartorius posted a healthy 6% increase in sales in the first half of 2010 to 315 million euros, thanks to "substantial gains" in sales of its bioreactors for biologics production and lab equipment.

Group operating earnings rose nearly 50% to 36 million euros, said Sartorius chief executive Dr Joachim Kreuzberg.

Sartorius' biotechnology division, which operates under the name of Sartorius Stedim Biotech, saw sales rise 4.6% to 209 million euros, in line with expectations, while operating profit reached 31.5 million euros, up 12.5 percent.

The division also saw a hike in the backlog of orders received for bioreactors, particularly from companies in the Asia-Pacific region which grew 20%, and North America which climbed seven percent.

"At the moment, there is an especially high demand in Asia where many biopharmaceutical companies are currently investing in relatively large production systems in which our equipment and technologies are much sought after," said Kreuzberg.

Orders in Europe were flat, mainly because of the phase out of bioreactor capacity which had been turned over to the production of H1N1 influenza vaccines, said the company. Overall, order intake rose 8.8% to 221 million euros in the half.

Sartorius has been steadily building its position in bioreactor and processing technologies since merging with Stedim back in 2007, and earlier this year forged a co-marketing alliance with Corning Inc in the area of disposable biomanufacturing equipment.

Meanwhile, Sartorius' mechatronics division, which produces laboratory equipment and weighing machines used in manufacturing, also had a good first half with sales up 7.5% to 106 million euros.

The division also turned around a loss in the same period of last year, with an operating profit of 4.8 million euros thanks to restructuring and cost-cutting measures, although demand remains down.

"We are continuing to feel the effects of economic recovery, but are not yet operating back at the level of the years before the economic crisis," said Kreuzberg.

Sartorius is hoping for a positive impact for the division from new product lines in the latter half of the year, including a range of refractometers for lab testing and in-line process control from Schmidt + Haensch which were rolled into its portfolio last month.

For the full-year Sartorius is expecting upper-single digit sakes increases for the biotechnology division and lower single digits for mechatronics.

Phil Tayor