Christ unveils pharma sector ambitions
25 May 2006
By the next Achema, sales in the Pharma/Life Science sector will reach Euro100 million, up from Euro 46 million at present, Millaurer said during Achema, staged 15-19 May in Frankfurt. The expansion, he said, would be achieved in the main by acquisition, though also through organic growth.
The target marks a consolidation of Christ’s strategy of moving away from its once heavy dependence on the “crazy cycles” in the semi-conductor market, the CEO said. The Asian-centred industry now represents around 30% of Christ’s sales, compared to around 80% just four years ago.
“The jewel of the group (now) is Pharma and Life Sciences division which is a clear leader in western Europe … and a very important element in our strategy going forward,” the CEO stated.
Christ’s main focus is on providing turnkey and complete systems to the Pharma sector, continued the CEO, who said “Most of the technical problems have been resolved in Pharma it is now about lowering costs for our customers.”
Millaurer went on to highlight the importance of product standardisation for Christ: “The more we can standardise the more quickly we can deliver and facilitate customers selection of products and technologies.”
Christ also aims to continue a strategy of finding strong local partners in "interesting" market areas. For example it has recent bought a company in Ireland and has now a very good position in the Irish market, the CEO said.
The company will further roll out its strategy internationally, continued Millaurer, referreing to the company's JVs in China and India as well as its recent acquisition of a 50% stake in a North American company.
Millaurer said he was comfortable with Christ’s current position in the electronic market and pointed to some “interesting areas” in the market, including liquid crystal TV displays, copper reclaim and VOC removal in semiconductor processes. The sector also remains a driver for many technology developments elsewhere in the group, he noted.
Christ currently has group-wide sales of around Euro200 million from four divisions: Pharma Life Sciences; Microelectronics, Food & Beverage and Microfiltration. The company’s strategy is to have a minimum of Euro50 million sales from each division, said a spokesman.
