Outside of the shrinking Covid business, Qiagen is growing strongly enough to keep business development almost stable overall.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt The Hilden-based biotech company Qiagen wants to continue growing independently and is not aiming for a merger or takeover by other biotech and life science companies. CFO Roland Sackers said on Tuesday when the quarterly figures were presented that, thanks to the financial strength strengthened by the Covid business, one sees more opportunities to further strengthen oneself through focused acquisitions.
American media recently reported that Qiagen was negotiating a merger with US competitor Bio-Rad. After a takeover by the US group Thermo Fisher Scientific failed in 2020, there are repeated takeover rumors about Qiagen. Sackers did not want to comment directly on the rumors, but emphasized that Qiagen is in a much stronger position today than it was three years ago.
Qiagen has introduced new platforms for diagnostics and sample preparation and has become operationally stronger as a result. Thanks to a well-performing, broad portfolio, fluctuations can be easily absorbed. “We’ve also gained tremendous financial flexibility through Covid,” Sackers said.
Qiagen raises full-year guidance for the third time
The self-confidence of the Qiagen management is strengthened above all by an unexpectedly positive development in the business areas apart from the Covid pandemic with a 14 percent increase in sales. Qiagen was able to raise its own forecast for 2022 for the third time on Tuesday, although sales of products for Covid diagnostics fell by around a quarter to $ 404 million in the first nine months. In the course of the afternoon, Qiagen shares rose by four percent at times.
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The biotech company now expects stable consolidated sales of $2.25 billion and earnings of $2.40 per share. This still corresponds to a slight drop in earnings compared to the previous year’s value of 2.65 dollars per share. At the beginning of the year, however, Qiagen had only expected sales of $2.07 billion and earnings per share of $2.05 for 2022.
Qiagen quarterly figures: Significant decline in Covid products
For the third quarter, Qiagen reported a 7 percent decline in sales to $500 million and a 9 percent decline in adjusted net income to $123 million. In the first nine months, sales totaled $1.6 billion, two percent below the previous year’s level, and net income shrank by four percent. According to the company, this corresponds to a currency-adjusted increase in sales of four percent and stable earnings.
market value
9.5
billion euro
With this market capitalization, Qiagen is the second most valuable German biotech company after Biontech.
In 2020 and 2021, Covid products had significantly increased Qiagen’s sales, earnings and cash flow. Qiagen is focused on molecular diagnostics and sells materials needed for sample preparation, as well as tests and analysis equipment. Accordingly, the company made good money on PCR test materials during the pandemic. With a market capitalization of 9.5 billion euros, the Hilden-based company is the second largest German biotech company behind Biontech.
However, business shrank by almost half in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. In 2022 as a whole, they are likely to contribute around 500 million dollars to sales.
CFO Sackers assumes that Covider proceeds will again shrink significantly in 2023. At the same time, however, he sees good opportunities for further double-digit growth in the non-Covid business.
More: Biontech continues to expand cancer research with billions in vaccines