PZ Cormay to win 3% of global haemetology instrument market in 2010?

2010-03-10

PZ Cormay, the listed supplier and distributor of diagnostic reagents and equipment, expects to capture 3% of the global market for haematology diagnostic equipment in 2010, amid buoyant demand for instruments made by its recently-acquired subsidiary Orphee of Switzerland. The bullish forecast came as the company reported a 23.7% jump in sales revenues in 2009, to PLN 38.45m (€9.93m), and a more than doubling of net profit to PLN 3.04m (€0.79m).
According to Tomasz Tuora, CEO, quoted by Parkiet, the volume of orders is so high that PZ Cormay may be hard pressed to fulfil all of them. He estimates that total shipments of haematology instruments in 2010 could reach almost 1,000 units, i.e. 3% of the global market of 30,000 units. At the moment, the devices are made by a contract manufacturer in France, but the production is to be shifted to Poland, although not earlier than 2011. Meanwhile, in the second quarter of this year PZ Cormay will launch a PLN 9m (€2.32m) factory in Lublin that will make reagents for the Orphee instruments.
The strong increase in 2009 results was thanks mainly to the launch of about 40 new products for biochemical analysis – PZ Cormay’s core business so far – and of a new rapid analyser for labs performing more than 100,000 tests per year. The figures do not include Orphee, whose acquisition was completed in January. PZ Cormay said at the time that the deal would enable it to double sales and profits in 2010 compared with 2008, to PLN 60m (€15.5m) i and PLN 3m (€0.77m), respectively. However, observers point out that much will depend on its ability to cut costs at Orphee.