Vaccine demand a friend to Pall in Q1; but sales still fall 5.4%

19-Nov-2009 - Last updated on 19-Nov-2009 at 12:01 GMT

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Continued high demand for vaccine manufacturing technologies saw life sciences emerge as one of the few positives for industrial processing specialist Pall in Q1.

For the three months ended October 31, revenue from Pall’s life sciences business grew 8.4 per cent to $239m (€160m), with biopharmaceuticals climbing 12 per cent to $143m and medical technology sales growing 4 per cent to $96m.

Within biopharmaceuticals, sales to the drug industry increased 10 per cent year-on-year on strong demand, for manufacturing consumables and vaccine production technologies, particularly single-use platforms.

This growth is in keeping with market trends Pall highlighted at its full-year 2009 results presentation in September.

And yesterday, in another echo of those comments, CEO Eric Krasnoff told shareholders that: “While the economy has certainly slowed filter consumption, it has not changed the inherent drivers for Pall's business or our enthusiasm for the markets we serve.”

Company spokesperson Patricia Iannucci told in-PharmaTechnologist that Pall will not comment further until December 9.

Asian growth

On a geographical basis, Europe was the best performer for Pall’s life science business, with sales in the region climbing 4.5 per cent to some $114m in the three month period.

However, in terms of growth Asia left Europe behind, with Pall’s local business expanding nearly 15 per cent to $38.6m, outstripping the 12.8 per cent hike the firm’s operations in the region saw last year.

This growth is also in keeping with comments Krasnoff made earlier this year, when he revealed that, in fiscal 2009, 67 per cent of the Pall’s revenues came from outside the western hemisphere and that the firm’s global reach helps “moderate the impact of a challenging macroeconomic environment”.

Overall Q1 sales down 5.4%

For Pall’s wider business the picture was less encouraging as, overall for the quarter, revenues fell a “greater than expected” 5.4 per cent to $547m, around $20m below the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thompson Reuters.

Pall’s energy, water and process technologies business saw sales decline 12.3 pre cent to $194m, while its aerospace and microelectronics revenues fell 21.6 per cent and 19.2 per cent, respectively, to around $57m each.