Biopharma revenues key to Pall’s Q3 gains

Pall’s biopharmaceutical business contributed revenue of $197m (€136m) for the three months ended April 30, up just over 21 per cent from that recorded in the comparable period in the previous fiscal year.

This growth, part of a 16.3 per cent hike to $368m in total life sciences revenues, maintains the pattern seen in the previous quarter​ and reflects, according to Pall, the firm’s role in the expanding vaccine and plasma products markets.

Total revenue for the period was also up with the gains in life sciences revenues almost being matched by Pall’s industrial business, which saw revenue grow 14 per cent to $341m.

Biopharma future​

In the Q3 results presentation CEO Eric Krasnoff said: “Our efforts are paying off particularly as the biotech industry accounts for a much higher proportion of the overall market.​

“Orders in BioPharmaceuticals increased 22 per cent. Consumables orders were up 22 per cent. And orders for systems increased 34 per cent. So it's pretty clear we're closing in on a very strong year in BioPharm and for Pall overall​.”

Krasnoff went on to predict that demand for high-tech processing, filtration systems and consumable will continue to grow as the biomanufacturing industry continues to expand and diversify.

“We're going to see be seeing biosimilars, which will increase the volume and the variety of production for biotech drugs…​and a lot of that growth both in BioPharm and in Medical is in the emerging regions.

Asian HQ charges dent profits​

Pall’s profit for the quarter was $71m, or 60 cents per share, up from $69.7m in the year earlier three months.

However, this included costs associated with the Asia-Pacific headquarters the firm is setting up in Singapore, which incidentally is one of the world’s fastest growing hubs for biomanufacturing.

Excluding these costs and other restructuring charges, Palls quarterly earnings jumped to 72 cents from 58 cents.