Biopharm sales grew year-on-year by close to 20 per cent, half of which came from foreign currency exchanges, as the Pall unit continued the double-digit revenue increases seen in earlier quarters.
Eric Krasnoff, CEO and president of Pall, said: “Biopharmaceuticals led the growth in the year, with sales increasing almost 16 per cent [in local currency].” Including the impact of foreign exchange sales growth at the unit was closer to 20 per cent.
Europe, the largest market for Pall, led biopharm sales growth in the fourth quarter, although all geographies posted increases. Pall singled out consumables as exceeding average growth across the biopharm unit. Pharmaceuticals matched the growth of biopharm as a whole.
Food and beverage revenue growth slightly exceeded biopharm and this led to life sciences meeting Pall’s expectations, despite sales at the medical unit growing less than five per cent. Pall’s industrial division also met sales expectations but weak profitability caused earnings to miss predictions.
Singapore centre
Earlier this month Pall boosted its Asian life science capabilities by opening a centre of excellence in Asia. The 430 sq m facility Singapore’s Gemini Science Park II consolidates training and technical services to serve biopharmaceutical companies in the region.
“Singapore life sciences centre of excellence is representative of our global strategy of investing in high-growth areas where the demand for biotechnology process development and training is acute”, Yves Baratelli, president, Pall Life Sciences, said.
Pall has created a series of laboratories to show companies visiting the site different stages of process development, such as cell harvesting and column preparation. The site also houses a simulated current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) training environment.