Pharmaceuticals business sector shows solid growth
The Pharmaceuticals business sector, comprising the two divisions Merck Serono and Consumer Health Care, increased total revenues by 6.5% to € 5,812 million in 2009. Royalty and commission income declined by 3.5% to € 353 million.
Pharmaceuticals | Total revenues by division
The operating result fell by 39% to € 403 million. Apart from high marketing and selling expenses as well as R&D costs, high one-time expenses had an impact here. These were recorded primarily in connection with additions to provisions for litigation and write-downs of intangible assets. The Pharmaceuticals business sector generated 55% of the Group operating result (excluding Corporate and Other). Return on sales declined to 6.9% compared to 12.0% in 2008.
Pharmaceuticals | Operating result by division
Chemicals business sector suffers owing to the economic downturn
The Chemicals business sector, which consists of the Performance & Life Sciences Chemicals as well as Liquid Crystals divisions, was hit hard by the economic crisis. Our Performance & Life Science Chemicals division supplies high-quality pigments to customers in a wide variety of sectors, including for instance the automotive and cosmetics industries. The global weakness in the automotive sector forced us to temporarily introduce reduced working hours in Pigments production. The Liquid Crystals division also experienced bitter blows to sales, especially at the beginning of the year. However, in the course of the year, it increasingly recovered and returned to a path of healthy growth.
Total revenues of the Chemicals business sector fell by 9.0% to € 1,935 million. Both divisions suffered owing to the underutilization of their capacities, with inventory reductions taking precedence over new production. Apart from write-downs of inventories, the Liquid Crystals division also was adversely affected by increased pressure on prices.
Chemicals | Total revenues by division
The operating result of the Chemicals business sector declined by 42% to € 324 million, thus accounting for 45% of the total Group operating result (excluding Corporate and Other). At 16.8%, return on sales for the Chemicals business was considerably below the 2008 level of 26.2%.
Chemicals | Operating result by division
