STRATEC – executive interview

STRATEC designs and manufactures fully automated analyser systems for its partners in clinical diagnostics and biotechnology. It also offers complex consumables for diagnostic and medical applications. STRATEC covers the entire value chain – from development to design and production through to quality assurance. The partners market the systems, software and consumables, in general together with their own reagents, as system solutions to laboratories, blood banks and research institutes around the world. STRATEC develops its products using its own patented technologies.

The in vitro diagnostics market has grown strongly in recent years and this growth is expected to continue at approximately 5% pa. In line with this market expansion, STRATEC has grown its revenues through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions from €145m in 2014 to €222m in 2019.
In its Q120 presentation, STRATEC reported strong organic sales growth of 20%, driven by the service parts and consumables business and good margin progression. For FY20 the group expects low double-digit organic sales growth, with an adjusted EBIT margin of around 15% (management guidance does not yet account for COVID-19-related effects after the end of April 2020).

Medium-term growth will be supported by the global outsourcing trend and the strong performance of the consumables division. This division was established with the acquisition of Sony DADC BioSciences in 2015 and is now well positioned to bring complex consumable and instrumentation solutions to the market in 2021 and is expected to be a major margin contributor.

In this interview, STRATEC CEO, Marcus Wolfinger, reflects on the impact of COVID-19 and the growth prospects for the rest of the year.