Sigma-Aldrich has record-breaking year of sales and earnings in 2014
Biopharma and pharma products contribute to growth in Life Sciences, led by new zinc-finger nuclease licensing agreements
Sigma-Aldrich had 'another record-breaking year of sales and earnings' in 2014, according to President and CEO Rakesh Sachdev.
Sales increased by 3% to US$2.79bn and adjusted operating income grew by 5% to $32m.
By business unit, sales grew by 1% to $1.40bn in Research; by 8% to $680m in Applied; and by 6% to $701m in SAFC Commercial.
'Each business has elevated its customer-centric strategies by responding to the needs of their global, diverse customer bases. This resulted in solid organic sales growth for the year with the fourth quarter of 2014 at 7%, the highest quarterly performance in almost four years,' said Sachdev.
The Research business unit had 'a good finish to 2014 with all segments and geographies contributing to growth'. In the fourth quarter, the company saw improved US academic spending and had another double-digit sales growth performance in China as well as a return to double-digit growth in India.
The Applied business unit had a 'steady performance throughout 2014' with contributions from all segments and all geographies. In the fourth quarter, the Diagnostics & Testing segment grew by double digits, led by demand for the company's analytical standards.
The SAFC business unit saw 14% organic sales growth in the fourth quarter led by double-digit growth of its Life Science Products.
Biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products contributed to growth in this segment, led by new zinc-finger nuclease licensing agreements and PharmaGrade product sales.
'The Life Science Services segment had another solid quarter of growth, led by demand in service sales for gene therapy projects,' said Sachdev. 'We are now reaping the benefits of our successful integration of BioReliance into SAFC.'
The Global Supply Chain initiatives rolled out by the company at the beginning of the year also had a 'meaningful impact' on results.
Looking to the future, Sachdev said he was excited about the company being bought by Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, and he expects the US$17bn transaction announced last September to close mid-2015.
