Sigma-Aldrich Reports Net Income Of $84.4 Million For Q1 2009

Excluding a 10% currency impact, first quarter sales grew organically by 1% from a year ago. Organic sales for the Company’s Research business grew over 3%, with individual business unit growth ranging from 2% to 7%, driven largely by moderate to strong growth in sales in Europe and CAPLA (Canada, Asia Pacific and Latin America) to customers in academia, the pharmaceutical industry and in government. Organic sales for SAFC, the Company’s Specialty Fine Chemicals business, declined 5% in Q1 2009 as stable sales to U.S. customers were offset by sales declines to custom pharmaceutical and hi-tech customers in international markets.

Pretax and net income margins in the first quarter 2009 increased by 180 and 150 basis points, respectively. This performance reflects proactive steps taken by management that provided benefits from strategic pricing actions, global supply chain activities and lower S,G&A costs. These benefits, together with reduced interest costs and a lower effective tax rate, collectively offset the adverse currency impact on earnings in the quarter. Excluding the negative impact of currency, EPS would have been $0.81 in the first quarter of 2009.

Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2009 was $86 million, a 22% increase when compared to the same period a year ago. This increase in cash flow was primarily due to lower levels of working capital.

Management reaffirmed its full year 2009 organic sales expectation for growth in a low single digit range. This expected sales growth results from new product launches and our global sales initiatives. Some of the results achieved in the first quarter from these activities were:

— Increased sales through the Company’s award winning web site to 44% of worldwide Research-based sales in the first quarter of 2009 from 42% in Q4 2008.

— Realized a 7% organic increase in research based sales in the CAPL countries, exclusive of a currency impact of 11% that reduced reported sales by 4% from the prior year. Sales in the Company’s focus markets of China, India and Brazil collectively grew by 17% organically in Q1 2009 over the prior year level.

— Achieved a 16% increase in SAFC’s booked orders for future delivery at March 31, 2009 from the December 31, 2008 level to a new all time high.

— Expanded the offering of products and services, with the announcement of at least one new product group or service each week in the quarter.

— Launched a new web portal to assist researchers engaged in advanced stem cell research.

2009 Outlook on Sales Growth and EPS:

— Demand for Sigma-Aldrich’s products, particularly from the pharmaceutical and hi-tech industries, is expected to continue to reflect the uncertainty in these markets. New program launches, global sales initiatives and a contribution from the New Ventures initiative are expected to enable the company to achieve low single digit organic sales growth in 2009. Currency is expected to reduce otherwise reportable growth in 2009 by approximately 8% if exchange rates remain at current levels.

— The negative impact of currency on EPS in 2009 is expected to be about $0.50 if exchange rates remain at current levels. Consistent with its first quarter performance, the Company expects to offset this currency impact through continuation of its efforts in supply chain optimization and other operational process improvements. Based on these sales expectations, continuation of the cost improvement efforts, lower interest rates, and current exchange rates, we expect to report 2009 diluted EPS slightly above the $2.65 reported for 2008.