By Adria Calatayud

Germany's Merck KGaA expects to return to organic sales growth next year after a broadly flat performance in 2023, helped by reduced Covid-19 headwinds and recovering demand for semiconductor materials.

The German life-sciences and electronics group said Thursday that it still expects organic sales for 2023 to range from a 2% fall to a 2% rise, resulting in net sales of between 20.5 billion and 21.9 billion euros ($21.60 billion-$23.08 billion).

In 2024, the decline in Covid-19-related sales in Merck's life-sciences segment will be smaller than in 2023, it said. Inventory reductions by key customers of the company's process-solutions segment should end early next year, paving the way for a pick-up in sales, Merck said.

The market for semiconductor materials is expected to recover incrementally in 2024, Merck said. Moreover, the company anticipates growth in its healthcare segment to normalize in line with medium-term aspirations.

Merck said its medium-term growth targets to 2025 remain unchanged, and that it expects to continue to grow beyond 2025.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2023 02:35 ET (06:35 GMT)

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