The net profit for 2008 was E367.1 million, or E1.69 per share, compared with E3.5 billion, or E16.21 per share, for the full year 2007.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008 was E1.9 billion, up 5.4%, compared with E1.8 billion for the fourth quarter of 2007. Revenue for the full year 2008 rose 7.1% to E7.5 billion from E7.06 billion for the full year 2007.
Karl-Ludwig Kley, chairman of the executive board of Merck, said: “In spite of the recession that is gripping the global business community, Merck is pleased to report that we were able to meet the group guidance for 2008 that we announced a year ago.
“These positive results in a difficult year – revenues increasing by 7% and an operating result up 16% – are a clear vindication of our business model that distributes risk across the two major business sectors of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.”