Jan 28 - Lonza, the world's largest contract drug manufacturer, on Wednesday set 2026 targets for its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business, expecting sales growth of 11%
Lonza Anticipates Slower Sales Growth in 2026 for CDMO Business
Lonza's Sales Growth Forecast for 2026
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Lonza, the world's largest contract drug manufacturer, on Wednesday set 2026 targets for its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business, expecting slower sales growth of 11% to 12% at constant exchange rates and for its core profit margin to expand to above 32% of sales.
Sales Growth Expectations
The Swiss company added it expected sales growth to be higher in the first half of 2026 than in the second half.
Core Profit Margin Insights
In 2025, the CDMO business, which was split off from the capsule and health ingredients (CHI) business which Lonza is planning to sell, saw its sales grow 21.7% in constant currency to 6.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.5 billion).
Dividend Proposal Details
Analysts were expecting sales in the core business to grow 20.7% to 6.49 billion francs, a poll compiled by Vara showed.
Lonza said sales growth was driven by a higher than expected contribution from its Vacaville site in California and good momentum across its mammalian, bioconjugates, small molecules, drug product and bioscience technology platforms.
The Basel-based group said its core profit margin, or ratio of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to sales in the continuing business, was 31.6% in 2025, above the 30.7% expected by analysts.
The company also said it would propose a dividend of 5 francs per share, 25% higher than what was paid last year.
($1 = 0.7654 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg and Orest Dovhan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
