Lonza Reports CHF 6.6 Billion in Sales Amid Strong CDMO Performance

  • Lonza reported CHF 6.6 billion in sales for 2024, with CORE EBITDA reaching CHF 1.9 billion at a 29% margin.
  • The company announced its “One Lonza” strategy, reinforcing its focus as a pure-play CDMO while planning to exit the Capsules & Health Ingredients (CHI) business.

Lonza has reported CHF 6.6 billion in sales for 2024, reflecting a slight decline of 0.2% at constant exchange rates (CER). The company achieved a CORE EBITDA of CHF 1.9 billion, maintaining a 29% margin, supported by strong demand for contract manufacturing services in mammalian, bioconjugates, small molecules, and cell & gene technologies. Excluding COVID-related business losses, Lonza’s underlying sales grew by approximately 7% in CER.

The company’s CDMO segment showed resilience, recording low-teens underlying growth in CER. This performance offset the decline in COVID-related mRNA business and softer demand in the Capsules & Health Ingredients (CHI) and Bioscience divisions. Lonza secured contract signings worth CHF 10 billion in 2024 and successfully completed the acquisition of Genentech’s Vacaville large-scale mammalian facility from Roche in October.

As part of its strategic evolution, Lonza announced its “One Lonza” strategy, focusing on core competencies and transitioning into a pure-play CDMO. This involves a planned exit from the CHI business at an appropriate time while ensuring continued service to customers. The company will implement a streamlined operational model in Q2 2025, creating three new business platforms: Integrated Biologics, Advanced Synthesis, and Specialized Modalities. Further investments in bolt-on mergers and acquisitions will also support future growth.

Looking ahead, Lonza expects its CDMO business to achieve CER sales growth approaching 20% in 2025, with a CORE EBITDA margin nearing 30%. The recently acquired Vacaville site is projected to contribute CHF 0.5 billion in sales at lower profitability, while organic CDMO growth is anticipated to reach low-teens in CER. CHI is also expected to return to growth, with low-to-mid-single-digit CER sales growth and a mid-twenties CORE EBITDA margin.

Commenting on the company’s outlook, Wolfgang Wienand, CEO of Lonza, stated: “In 2024, our market-leading CDMO businesses demonstrated good commercial momentum with high contract signings across technologies. Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, we are focusing on implementing our One Lonza strategy and a simplified, easy-to-scale organisational structure. This will facilitate future growth and create an even better experience for our customers across the different service offerings.”

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