Growth in Asia and Latin America
Despite the global economic crisis, total revenues of the Laboratory Business rose slightly by 0.6% in 2009. We achieved satisfactory growth of 5.5% in Asia, Africa and Australasia. Sales in this region amounted to € 164 million. Sales in Latin America slightly exceeded the 2008 level, totaling € 79 million. By contrast, sales in the European market declined by 3.7%, not least as a result of negative currency effects in eastern Europe. Sales in Europe amounted to € 186 million. In the North American market, sales increased by 2.1% to € 95 million.
Innovations in the microbiology business
The microbiology business was hardly affected by the global economic crisis and continued to perform very well, especially thanks to innovative solutions for microbiological tests designed for customers in the food, diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries. These include the foodproof® test kits for detecting bacterial DNA using state-of-the-art techniques, as well as antibody-based lateral flow tests from the Singlepath® and Duopath® product line.
Deliveries of acetonitrile maintained despite the crisis
In 2009, the greatest obstacle faced by the global Laboratory business was the serious shortage of acetonitrile on the global market. This raw material, also used as a solvent in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), is a by-product of acrylonitrile production. The demand for this substance dropped drastically as a result of the economic downturn, which led to the standstill of many acrylonitrile production plants. We were able to maintain deliveries of acetonitrile to our customers despite the shortage.
Stronger presence in the Indian market
In October, we acquired Bangalore Genei, an Indian company specializing in the development, production and sale of products for proteomic and genomic research. Combining the activities of Bangalore Genei with our existing biosciences business has made us the leading supplier of bioscience products in the growth market of India.
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