German Merck shares follow rising sales and earnings

8 August 2019

The share price of Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) closed up 2.2% on Thursday after the German company presented its second quarter 2019 financial results.

Net sales for the group were 3.97 billion euros ($4.45 billion), up 6.9% on the figure for the second quarter of 2018, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were 1.14 billion euros, a 23.8% jump and slightly above analysts' estimate of 1.11 billion euros in a Refinitiv poll.

The EBITDA rise came partly because of a 5.2% jump in net sales in healthcare to 1.58 billion euros, with drug development milestone payments from pharma partners Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) making an important contribution.

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