The Merck Executive Board continues to see neither any major technology shifts in its Chemical businesses nor any major new product launches in the Pharmaceutical business in 2014. Merck will continue with the implementation of the “Fit for 2018” transformation and growth program and enter a phase of continuous improvement. We plan to accelerate our R&D activities on strategic business initiatives such as Biosimilars and OLED and to direct our marketing and selling resources to growth markets.
We forecast slight organic sales growth for the Merck Group driven by the Merck Millipore and Consumer Health divisions for 2014. Despite the Rebif® sales decline, the significant reduction in royalty income and an anticipated unfavorable foreign exchange environment, we aim to achieve the 2013 level of Group EBITDA pre one-time items. Business free cash flow is expected to decrease slightly as several strategic growth projects will require investments in property, plant and equipment.
search hit 26
