German drugs and chemicals firm Merck KGaA (MKGAY.PK) reported a 48.7% fall in first-quarter profit after tax to 176.6 million euros from 344.2 million euros last year. Net profit after non-controlling interest dropped 49% in the first quarter to 174 million euros from 341 million euros in the year-ago quarter, the company added.
Earnings per share pre one-time items were 1.67 euros, lower than the prior year's 1.91 euros, due to the lower operational performance.
Total revenues increased to 2.64 billion euros from 2.56 billion euros in the prior-year quarter.
For 2012, Merck Group now expects EBITDA pre one-time items of 2.8 billion euros - 2.9 billion euros, and total revenues of about 10.5 billion euros.
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