Merck Kgaa (MKGAF) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning everyone here in Darmstadt at the Merck Innovation Center and from Darmstadt into the world and a warm welcome to our annual Merck press conference. My name is Axel Wöber, I'm head of communications of Merck and I'm here today with our CEO Belen Garrigo and our CFO Helene von Röder and both will walk you through our results of 2025 and of course talk about our outlook for 2026. So, as always, both Helene and Belen will give some insights first before we dive into our Q&A session a little bit later. And with that, already, I'd like to ask to the stage, Belen Gericho. Belen, the stage is yours. Thank you, Axel, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking part in our full-year press conference, whether you are here in Darmstadt or following us virtually. As Axel mentioned, Helene and I will provide an overview of our business performance for 2025, as well as an outlook for 26. After this, we look forward to your questions. So let me start by summarizing 2025 in a few messages. First of all, we deliver on our financial guidance. Second, our diversified business and regions was a source of strength. And last but not least, we are positioned in major growth areas such as health and AI, and these will be strong platforms for future growth. Before we dive into the numbers, let me reflect on 2025. We recognize that the ongoing crisis, the geopolitical tensions, and rather global challenges have become the new normal. our new reality. The recent developments in the Middle East once again demonstrate how quickly political uncertainties can escalate. This is obviously a very concerning situation, and as you can imagine, the safety of our employees and the safety of our partners in the region is a top priority for us right now. We are in close contact with our t...