Lonza confirms outlook as it expects more contracts in coming months

By Marleen Kaesebier

(Reuters) -Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza confirmed its full-year guidance on Thursday after a strong third quarter for its main contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business. 

The Basel-based company continues to expect a core earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin of 30% to 31% for the CDMO business in 2025. The business had made up about 86% of the company's half-year sales.

Lonza signed large contracts in the third quarter and also expects "a healthy level of contract signings across technologies and sites" in the CDMO business for the full year, it said.

A "significant long-term commercial supply agreement" confirmed for Vacaville in the U.S. was the most material disclosure in the quarterly update, according to Jefferies analysts who said some investors had been concerned with the lack of news from Lonza compared with competitors.

Further signings for Vacaville, which Lonza acquired last year, are expected in the coming months, the company said.

Its shares were seen 4% higher in pre-market indications.

Lonza also said it expected no material financial impact from current U.S. trade policy announcements, pointing to its strong manufacturing presence in the country.

In September, U.S. president Donald Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on imports of branded or patented pharmaceutical products unless a company is building a manufacturing plant in the United States.

Pfizer has since struck a deal with the U.S. administration for tariff relief. Last week, Germany's Merck also said it had reached an agreement on in-vitro fertilization drugs.

A major Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry association, Scienceindustries, said earlier in October that Swiss drugmakers could strike their own deals with the U.S. following Pfizer's. A representative said he believed big members, including Lonza, would have a very high probability of being exempt from the new tariffs.

(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)