Labtech

Companies in the Labtech business are active in the market areas diagnostics, biomedical research and laboratory equipment.

Labtech’s net sales decreased by 4 percent in the quarter to SEK 856m (890), where of organic sales, excluding COVID-19 related sales, amounted to 5 percent and acquired growth was 6 percent. Net sales related to COVID-19 decreased by 48 percent and accounted for SEK 151m (290). Exchange rate changes had positive impact of 3 percent on net sales. EBITA decreased by 41 percent to SEK 116m (194), corresponding to an EBITA-margin of 13.5 percent (21.8).

Labtech’s net sales decreased by 11 percent in the interim period to SEK 2,922m (3,284), where of organic sales, excluding COVID-19 related sales, increased by 6 percent and acquired growth was 4 percent. Net sales related to COVID-19 decreased by 49 percent and accounted for SEK 696m (1,396). Exchange rate changes had positive impact of 3 percent on net sales. EBITA decreased by 30 percent to SEK 529m (750), corresponding to an EBITA-margin of 18.1 percent (22.8).

As expected, COVID-related sales continued to decline in the quarter, while organic growth excluding COVID-19, was 5 percent. COVID-19 testing is currently done exclusively using PCR technology and mainly for patients about to undergo surgery and for healthcare workers. An important initiative for the diagnostics companies will be to establish the use of more types of tests on the PCR instruments that have been installed in various healthcare facilities during the pandemic. The influenza season normally starts during winter in Europe and may lead to increased demand for combination tests (influenza, COVID-19 and RSV). Sales development in the diagnostics companies was stable in traditional segments such as blood gas, pathology and microbiology.

Sales to research customers developed well, partly due to the launch of new products. The companies are continuously working to bring new products into the portfolio, especially in advanced and growing segments such as NGS (Next Generation Sequencing), cell therapies, bioprocessing and cancer immunology. In academic research there may be risk of reduced research grants in the future due to the economic environment. In pharmaceutical development and drug discovery, which is a large and important segment for the companies, the positive trend is strong and expected to continue.