ZURICH (Reuters) -Switzerland’s Galderma reported a 10.8% rise in net sales on a constant currency basis in the first half of 2024, driven by growth in all product categories, and prompting an upbeat outlook from the skin care company on Thursday.
Net sales were $2.2 billion in the six months through June, and Core EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) reached $514 million, the firm said.
Galderma used the results to update its 2024 net sales guidance towards the upper end of its 7-10% growth range on a constant currency basis.
“The outlook is great,” Galderma CEO Flemming Ornskov told Reuters.
Galderma’s shares reversed an early 1% rise, however, and were more than 4% lower by 0900 GMT amid broader weakness in the market.
Carved out of Nestle in 2019 and bought by a consortium led by Swedish private equity firm EQT, Galderma began trading its shares in March with an initial tranche of the company’s stock.
Ornskov declined to be drawn on when more Galderma shares could be up for grabs, but noted a six-month lock-up period for the main shareholders would end this quarter.
“As of September, they are free to sell shares,” he said, expressing confidence that when the time came, it would be carried out in an orderly manner.
The chief executive said Galderma saw plenty of upside in the Asia-Pacific region, noting that sales in China, where the firm is still relatively small, yielded growth that was “significantly above” the overall result.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us to continue to grow in China,” Ornskov said, also pointing to the Middle East as an area rich in potential growth.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Andrey SychevEditing by Miranda Murray, Kirsten Donovan)
