Reuters
ZURICH, April 18 () - Swiss drug ingredients maker Lonza stuck to its full-year targets on Thursday and said it would give an update on its business portfolio review in the second half amid "headwinds" in its specialty ingredients division.
The Basel-based company expects mid-to-high-single digit sales growth and a sustained core operating profit margin this year. Without giving specific first-quarter numbers, Lonza said its pharmaceuticals and nutrition unit had "continued positive momentum" while specialty ingredients including anti-microbials for paints and coatings faced unanticipated problems.
"The extent of the challenges across all (specialty ingredients) businesses were not foreseen in January 2019 and the implementation of additional cost-containment measures... has started to mitigate impact of supply-chain disruption and raw material input costs," Lonza said in a statement.
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