Sales at the Dutch contract chemicals distribution firm for the six months to the end of June were €702m ($940m), up 14% on the first half of 2013, while profit from operations grew 13% to €56m.
IMCD said that: “Macro-economic outlook for the most important regions IMCD is working in shows low to modest GDP growth. The group is continuously working on expanding its product portfolio and the acceleration of these initiatives is important to realize growth.”
For the rest of the year IMCD anticipates that operating profit will increase 6%.
IMCD declined to comment when contacted by Outsourcing-pharma.com.
Pharma plans
The firm, which serves the pharmaceutical, food, personal care, coating and detergents markets, did not give any specifics of its growth initiatives but did remind investors that it bought Swedish API and excipient distributor Jucker Pharma AB in June.
Growth in the pharma services sector would fit with what IMCD when it completed its IPO when it said that the stability of the pharmaceutical sector - relative to other industries it supplies - was a key driver for its revenue growth over the past few years.
“The Group’s revenue in 2013 was derived primarily from the sale of products used in each of the life science and industrial end markets.
“Life science end markets include food and nutrition, pharmaceutical, and personal care, tend to be less vulnerable to economic cycles, and have shown higher growth rates from 2011 to 2013 than industrial end markets.”
At present IMCD employs 1,400 staff, operates in 30 countries and generated revenues of €1.2bn in 2013.
Other recent IMCD pharma acquisitions include Indchem – which it bought in February last year –to establish itself as a fine chemicals distributor for the Indian drug industry – and Malaysian ingredient maker Maxwell Pharma.