[...] and expand existing strengths in meaningful ways. Building on leading branded products in all four divisions, Merck aims to generate income that is largely independent of the prevailing economic cycles. Moreover, the aim is to further expand the strong market position in emerging markets in the medium to long term. In the first quarter of 2014, the Emerging Markets region contributed 34% to Group sales. Detailed information on specific strategic initiatives of the Merck Group as well as on the business strategies of the divisions can be found in the Merck Annual Report for 2013.

As a global pharmaceutical and chemical company organized around four divisions with a diverse portfolio of products and services, Merck uses a comprehensive framework of indicators to manage performance. Within this framework, the most important KPI (key performance indicator) to measure the performance of the Merck Group and its divisions is EBITDA pre*. Further important financial indicators used to assess the performance of operating business are sales and business free cash flow (BFCF)*. The Merck Value Creation and Financial KPI Pyramid, which summarizes the important financial performance measures of the Merck Group, reflects the comprehensive framework of [...]

[...] Within the Executive Board, Stefan Oschmann is responsible for the Merck Serono and Consumer Health divisions, and Bernd Reckmann is responsible for the Performance Materials and Merck Millipore divisions. Apart from the details reported below with regard to the first quarter of 2014, more information on the company’s research and development activities can be found in the Merck Annual Report for 2013. Merck Serono During the first quarter of 2014, several clinical projects of Merck Serono advanced through the development pipeline and several agreements were entered into with other organizations. In the field of Oncology, a new Phase III study called START2 was [...]

With the publication of the results of 2013, Merck provided a forecast of expected sales, EBITDA pre one-time items and business free cash flow for the Merck Group and its divisions for 2014. Owing to business performance in the first quarter of 2014, Merck confirms its forecast for the full year 2014 despite anticipated negative foreign exchange effects. The latter will stem mainly from the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, yet also from the Brazilian real, the Argentinean peso and additional currencies. Relative to the sales of the Merck Group, we therefore currently assume negative exchange rate effects of approximately 3–4% compared to the previous year. [...]

Corporate and Other comprises Group administration expenses for Group functions that cannot be directly allocated to the divisions, such as Finance, Procurement, Legal, Communications, and Human Resources. Corporate costs additionally encompass expenses for central, non-allocated IT functions, including expenses related to the expansion and harmonization of IT systems within the Merck Group. Accordingly, Corporate and Other has no sales to report. Gains or losses on currency hedging are also disclosed in Corporate and Other. XLS Corporate and Other | Key figures € million Q1 – 2014 Q1 – 2013 Change in % Operating result (EBIT) –42.9 –52.4 –18.1 EBITDA [...]