Vaccine growth and single-use systems boost Pall in ‘09

15-Sep-2009 - Last updated on 16-Sep-2009 at 08:12 GMT

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Revenues from Pall’s biopharmaceuticals division grew in fiscal 2009, excluding foreign currency changes, with the company benefiting from the “thriving market” for vaccines and expanding adoption of single-use systems.

In a conference call with investors Eric Krasnoff, CEO of Pall, explained that the resilience of the vaccine market has helped the life sciences division outperform other sectors of the business. This was given a further boost by the rise of H1N1, which helped drive growth at Pall.

Furthermore, vaccine production, and other biologics manufacturing, is increasingly being performed in disposable systems and Pall is benefiting from this shift in the industry.

Excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange annual revenues from the biopharmaceutical division grew by 4.7 per cent. However, the rising strength of the US dollar against the Euro, British Pound and some Asian currencies resulted in actual revenues falling by 2.5 per cent to $551m (€375m).

Despite this Pall remains optimistic for the coming fiscal year, with Lisa McDermott, chief financial officer at the company, stating that the business is “well positioned for when the economy rebounds”.

This belief is underpinned by the actions taken by Pall to cut costs, which declined slightly in the life sciences division, while maintaining spending in R&D. McDermott added that “ongoing efficiency and cost reduction programs are helping to fund” investments in the company.

Geographic reach

Krasnoff also believes that Pall’s geographic diversity, which results in 67 per cent of sales coming from outside the western hemisphere, helps“moderate the impact of a challenging macroeconomic environment”.

Excluding currency changes Asia was the fastest growing market for Pall’s life science division, posting 12.8 per cent growth and the company intends to continue developing business in the region.

This will be supported by efforts to build capabilities in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, which are areas Pall believes represent growth opportunities.