Lonza has reported what it describes as a positive start to 2018 with businesses along the healthcare continuum as growth drivers.

“Our businesses along the healthcare continuum produced positive results. Former Capsugel businesses, in particular, performed above our expectations both versus prior year and on a run-rate basis and contributed to our core activities,” said Richard Ridinger, Lonza’s CEO. “We have further strengthened our technology footprint by adding to our portfolio the world’s largest dedicated cell-and-gene-therapy manufacturing facility in Pearland, Texas, and by expanding our mid-scale mammalian capacity in Portsmouth, NH. We will continue to invest into our innovative offerings, global presence, commercial and operational excellence while reviewing our portfolio as part of our long-term strategic growth path.”

As of 1 January 2018, the Specialty Ingredients segment began operating in three distinct units: a Consumer Health division, a Consumer & Resources Protection division and a Water Care business unit.

The new Consumer Health division addresses the fast-moving consumer goods markets in nutrition, hygiene and personal care. The new Consumer & Resources Protection division addresses the coatings, composites and agricultural markets.

Lonza Consumer Health is said to be showing good momentum across capsules and ingredients. In particular, two leading actives – UCII ingredient for joint health and Carnipure ingredient in sports nutrition – are benefiting from high demand. Growth in capsules and dosage forms is especially driven by clean-label specialty polymer solutions.

In Q1 combined offerings continued to attract interest, fuelled by more than 30 new dietary supplement product concept launches that join Lonza’s specialty ingredients and former Capsugels innovative dosage forms. Additional growth momentum is expected due to synergistic geographic expansion across all businesses.

Disinfecting solutions in home and institutional hygiene applications saw continuous growth, driven by increased demand in North America and Europe that resulted from innovations to address regulatory compliance.

Consumer Resources & Protection benefited from robust demand for composite materials in the aerospace and electronics industries and for antimicrobial solutions in other industrial markets. Solid wood preservatives had a soft start in North America and Europe because of unfavourable weather conditions; however, developments in value-adding applications like mould control and fire protection and in engineered wood are promising.

Lonza confirmed ongoing strong momentum for its businesses along the healthcare continuum and is confident to achieve a positive half-year result 2018. The strong business momentum also makes Lonza fully confident of achieving, at a minimum, the previously communicated full-year guidance of mid-single-digit sales growth on a comparable basis in line with Mid-Term Guidance 2022 and 100 bps improvement in CORE EBITDA margin in line with Mid-Term Guidance 2022.

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