Pharma buoys Albemarle results in second quarter
pharmafile | July 24, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Albemarle, manufacturing
Albemarle succumbed to pressure in the market in the second quarter as sales fell 8% to $685 million, although the company’s pharma operations bucked the overall trend.
Fine chemistry sales – which include its custom chemistry and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) operations – rose 13% to $209 million thanks to price increases and rising volumes, said Albemarle.
In May, for example, the company announced a 15% hike in the price of its ibuprofen API, one of its biggest lines.
The fine chemistry segment also reported record profitability, with net income up 17% to $44 million and margins reaching a new high of 21 per cent. Fine chemistry services drove the increase, with sales up by a third, while performance chemicals rose 5 per cent.
The company has continued to invest in its API manufacturing capabilities, and last month unveiled a major expansion of its manufacturing facility in South Haven, Michigan, after seeing the number of custom API projects there double over the last two years.
Albemarle’s investment in New Haven involved the introduction of additional reactor capacity to match its capabilities in solids handling, said the firm.
“New contracts and growth of existing contracts across high viscosity lubricants, agricultural intermediates and specialty pharma contributed to this growth”, said Albemarle’s president and chief operating officer John Steitz in a conference call.
“Overall, the level of inquiries and estimated size of our current pipeline has never been higher within fine chemistry services, which bodes well for the balance of the year and 2013,” he added.
Albemarle’s catalyst business saw sales decline 14% to $229m while polymers fell 15% to $247 million.
“While we currently are not seeing the increased market demand that we had expected in the second half of the year, our businesses remain fundamentally healthy and strategically well positioned,” said chief executive Luke Kissam.
Phil Taylor
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