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Merck KGaA Q1 earnings, sales down YOY

Merck KGaA said its first-quarter earnings fell 18.2% and confirmed its full-year 2018 outlook.

The Darmstadt, Germany-based pharmaceutical company booked first-quarter pre-exceptional EBITDA of €1.02 billion, or €1.41 per share, down from €1.24 billion, or €1.80 per share, in the year-ago period.

The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for the first quarter is €1.37.

First-quarter net sales amounted to €3.69 billion, down 4.4% from €3.86 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company said the decline was due to negative foreign exchange effects. Merck's multiple sclerosis drug Mavenclad and immuno-oncology drug Bavencio booked sales of €13 million and €12 million, respectively.

The company's net income was €341 million for the first three months of 2018, down from €523 million in the first quarter of 2017.

For full year 2018, Merck confirmed its forecast of a moderate organic net sales increase of between 3% and 5% year over year, and expects net sales of €15 billion to €15.5 billion based on an unchanged portfolio.

Factoring in the company's planned divestment of its consumer health business — expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter — the company forecast 2018 net sales of €14 billion to €14.5 billion from continuing operations.

Meanwhile, Merck expects pre-exceptional EBITDA for 2018 to be between €3.95 billion and €4.15 billion, an expected decline due to negative exchange rate effects.

With the consumer health divestment, pre-exceptional EBITDA for the year from continuing operations is forecast to be between €3.75 billion and €4 billion.