In the first half of 2017, Lonza continued on its strong growth path with sales 15.1% up to CHF 2,323 million and core EBIT 43.3% up to CHF 447 million in reported currency compared with financial results in half-year 2016.

The company said the success was driven by both of Lonza’s segments Pharma&Biotech and Specialty Ingredients. Pharma&Biotech experienced another strong half year following the extraordinary growth rate in H2 2016 with Commercial Manufacturing and Clinical Development as key drivers. Consumer Health & Nutrition outperformed within Specialty Ingredients, followed by improved profitability of other businesses, too. Lonza confirmed its full-year 2017 guidance, which was already upgraded with Q1 2017 qualitative business updat in April 2017.

“Lonza’s continued growth shows the company’s strength and ability to shape the future along the healthcare continuum with our customer-oriented market approach, ongoing operational excellence and new innovative offerings,” said Richard Ridinger, CEO of Lonza. “The outstanding results in the first half 2017 are fully consistent with our outlook for the full year.”

The Specialty Ingredients segment experienced a good first half of 2017 with sales 6.3% up to CHF 1,238 million and core EBIT of CHF 213 million, up by 9.8% compared with the same period last year. The core EBITDA margin in the first half of 2017 was 21.1%. Consumer Health & Nutrition added significantly to the increase in revenue and in profitability. Within other Lonza Specialty Ingredients businesses, operational excellence programs resulted in efficiency gains and higher profitability compared with previous reporting periods. Business excellence through automation, streamlining, digitalization and the exploitation of synergies remains a cornerstone going forward, the company said.