The value of tomorrow is realized in partnership with Zonebourse.com
Like Lonza, whose career we have already mentioned in these columns, SSB is a strategic subcontractor in the life sciences industry. More specifically, the company supplies a whole series of machines and consumables which make it possible to prepare, produce and deliver biopharmaceutical products. This equipment is highly technical and meets extremely high sanitary standards. Concretely, it can be cell culture media, bioreactors, but also machines for filtration and purification or intended for filling and storage. SSB also offers the software layer that accompanies this process. The objective is to provide the customer with an end-to-end service to produce traditional medicines such as vaccines, but also the latest innovations such as monoclonal antibodies or gene therapies.
The regulatory requirements of the pharmaceutical industry and the level of trust required between prime contractors and suppliers create considerable barriers to entry into this industry. This is a considerable asset for SSB, which is part of the quartet which dominates the specialty alongside Thermo Fisher, Danaher and Merck KGaA, in other words serious rivals. Thus, despite a capitalization of 30 billion euros, the Franco-German company is a small thumb.
Let us take this opportunity to say a few words about this double filiation. Stedim is a French success story that started in Aubagne at the end of the 1970s. The company then marketed a system for filling single-use sterile bags, which would revolutionize industry habits. It develops alone in a niche market until 2007, when it accepts the marriage with the biotechnology division of the German Sartorius, to create Sartorius Stedim Biotech. A masterstroke that allows the duo to establish itself as a reference partner of a booming pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. At the time, SSB generated 362 million euros in turnover and employed 2,350 people.
In the antechamber of the CAC40
Fifteen years later, turnover has increased almost tenfold, for a workforce that exceeds 10,000 people. Internationalization is visible in sales, which are split between Europe (38%), America (36%) and Asia-Pacific (26%). Average annual growth has exceeded 15% since 2006. It has been fueled by internal development, with substantial sums allocated to the development of the industrial tool, and by external growth, when it was necessary to enrich the supply of new skills. As for profitability, it is almost indecent with an Ebitda margin close to 35% at cruising speed. Performances which the 74% majority shareholder, Sartorius AG, can obviously only be delighted with.
Like the other shareholders, since the beautiful story has not gone unnoticed on the stock market, far from it. The company is also now in the antechamber of the CAC40. It follows from the above that SSB is richly valued and that it is one of those companies adored by investors. The coin on the other hand: the slightest disappointment in the results or the outlook and the title is heckled on the stock market. But from a long-term perspective, for example to hold a nice solid value in the bottom of your portfolio, the game is worth the candle. Indeed, the biopharmaceutical market has shown continuous growth for years, driven by progress in medical research and the aging of the population. SSB estimates that it is in a position to generate 4.4 billion euros in turnover in 2025, while maintaining an EBITDA margin above 35% by this horizon. If the scenario is confirmed, the beautiful story has every chance of continuing.