Labtech

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

As of April 1, 2021, the Biomedica companies are included as a whole in the business area Labtech. The aim is that such an allocation is more consistent with how the companies are monitored internally and will better capture the growth opportunities in the companies. All key financial indicators have been recalculated in accordance with the new breakdown. Previously, the Biomedica companies were distributed with 60 percent in Labtech and 40 percent in Medtech.

Labtech’s net sales decreased by 15 percent in the fourth quarter to SEK 1,089m (1,283), where of organic sales decreased 19 percent and acquired growth was 4 percent. Exchange rate changes had marginal impact on net sales. Net sales related to COVID-19 accounted for SEK 323m (592) and organic growth, excluding COVID-19 amounted to 4 percent. EBITA decreased by 17 percent to SEK 227m (273), corresponding to an EBITA-margin of 20.8 percent (21.3).

Labtech’s net sales increased by 21 percent in the financial year to SEK 4,373m (3,619), where of organic growth was 22 percent and acquired growth was 2 percent. Exchange rate changes had a negative effect on net sales with 3 percent. Net sales related to COVID-19 accounted for SEK 1,719m (1,051) and organic growth, excluding COVID-19 amounted to 5 percent. EBITA increased by 57 percent to SEK 977m (622), corresponding to an EBITA-margin of 22.3 percent (17.2).

Sales on the Nordic markets amounted to 64 percent of net sales compared to 58 percent last year. 

The Labtech business demonstrated strong growth in full-year 2021, largely due to high sales of COVID-19-related products in the first half of the year, but also due to increased demand for non-COVID- products. Sales of COVID-19 products in the fourth quarter declined as expected compared to the exceptionally strong sales in the corresponding quarter last year, while sales of non-COVID products increased.

COVID-19 testing in the Nordic region picked up again with the fourth wave of the pandemic and our Nordic diagnostics companies have sold large volumes of PCR tests. Demand has been high from both public and private customers, including off-shore and airports, particularly for our point-of-care PCR platform that provides test results within 20 minutes. In Central and Eastern Europe, however, sales have declined due to both lower test volumes and lower prices for COVID-19 tests. Future sales of COVID-19 tests in our diagnostics companies are entirely dependent on how the pandemic evolves, new mutations and different testing requirements in the society. The tests are becoming increasingly accepted as "routine" in the healthcare sector, where there is a particular interest in combination kits to test for the influenza type A, type B, RSV and COVID-19 viruses in the same test. Despite challenges with the reintroduced restrictions, activity in our diagnostics companies was high, with increased sales of other tests on our installed base of instruments used in the fields of molecular biology and microbiology. Sales in the quarter excluding COVID-19-related products have increased, particularly in areas related to blood gas analysis, as well as in areas such as genetics and oncology.

Our research companies had good sales growth in the first two months of the quarter of non-COVID-related products. Demand is generally increasing for laboratory reagents used for gene sequencing, cell therapy and cancer immunology. The sales trend for our own advanced instruments was also robust, especially in Europe and Asia outside China. However, the restrictions resulting from the fourth wave led to the closure of research laboratories in several countries, and many customers chose to postpone planned purchases. Sales of direct COVID-19-related products to laboratories in both the Nordic countries and Italy to produce various types of tests for COVID-19 decreased significantly in the quarter compared with last year's strong sales due to the high supply of ready-to-use tests.