This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Merck aumenta sus ventas en un 4,5 por ciento
Merck increases its sales by 4.5 per cent
13/10/2006
on October 13, 2006
The Merck group sales grew 4.5 per cent to 1.521 million euros in the second quarter of 2006, with a positive contribution of the five divisions to this growth. The exploited benefits of the company rose 24 percent, of 203 to 252 million euros. This increased explained by good commercial development and cost control measures. In addition, the return on sales (ROS: benefits of exploitation/sales) grew significantly, from 13.9 to 16.5 percent, while yields on capital invested (ROCE) increased to 22.2 per cent of the 18.5.
Sales of the business of chemistry sector increased by 5.3 percent, to 503 million euros in the second quarter, and the operating profit continued to grow exceptionally, rising 31 percent to 146 million euros due to the results of the Division of liquid crystals. Also, sales of pharmaceutical products returned to the threshold of one billion euros in the second quarter, and rose by 4.4 per cent to 1.009 billion euros. On the other hand, sales of Erbitux from April to June increased by 56 percent and alzanzaron the figure of 81 million euros, compared with 52 million recorded in the same quarter of last year, which contributed the authorisation in the European Union at the end of March 2006 of the new indication for head and neck cancer. Today, Merck markets Erbitux in 52 countries around the world.
