By Marleen Kaesebier
(Reuters) -German pharmaceuticals and technology company Merck KGaA gave a guidance for 2026 that sent its shares falling during its capital markets day on Thursday, wiping out their earlier gains that had been buoyed by more upbeat mid-term commentary.
Merck’s life science and electronics units are expected to improve gradually next year, while the healthcare business is predicted to “temporarily moderate”, Chief Financial Officer Helene von Roeder said in a conference call.
Organic sales growth for 2026 is forecast in a low-to-mid single-digit percentage range, with broadly stable earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization as well as adjustments.
Shares of the company fell 7% after von Roeder announced the 2026 outlook, reversing their course after rising earlier in the session on the back of the medium-term targets that were published ahead of the event.
Those targets included annual organic sales growth in a low- to mid-single-digit percentage for the healthcare business, after Merck had guided for “slight growth” last year. It also forecast annual organic sales growth in a mid single-digit percentage range.
PANDEMIC ASSUMPTIONS FAIL TO MATERIALIZE
Merck confirmed that it is aiming to achieve net sales between around 20.5 billion euros and 21.7 billion euros in 2025, a target it has toned down twice this year.
That is far below the 25 billion euros the Darmstadt-based firm had guided for at its capital markets day back in 2021.
“We had made a number of assumptions on the pandemic that never materialized,” CEO Belen Garijo told Reuters.
‘APPETITE’ FOR M&A
Garijo, who is stepping down at the end of April, said Merck has “appetite for M&A with the priority on life science.”
The company is looking at a broad spectrum of life science companies, both private and public, she added.
Merck is already in the process of acquiring multiple companies. In July, it announced an acquisition of U.S. biotech firm SpringWorks in a $3.9 billion deal, and on Wednesday it said its MilliporeSigma business would buy the chromatography unit of JSR life sciences.
U.S. TARIFF STRATEGIES
Garijo said Merck had identified several areas for potential collaborations with the U.S. government as President Donald Trump’s tariffs set in.
She named fertility treatments as a potential common interest, and confirmed the company would likely consider direct distribution to U.S. patients.
(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier, Matthias Inverardi and Patricia Weiss; editing by Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)
