DREIEICH (dpa-AFX) - Blood plasma specialist Biotest expects to be in the red operationally again this year. Before interest and taxes, a loss of 15 million to 20 million euros is expected, the company announced in Dreieich on Thursday. The company said this was due to higher research and development costs, charges of 30 to 40 million euros from the ramp-up of the new Biotest Next Level production facility, and general inflation. Sales, on the other hand, are expected to increase in the upper single-digit percentage range, it said.

Biotest, which has a good 2,200 employees worldwide, specializes in drugs made from blood plasma donations that are used to treat blood coagulation disorders, weaknesses in the immune system or burns, for example in emergency medicine. The company operates 34 plasma collection centers in Europe. With its "Biotest Next Level" program, the group aims to more than double production capacity.

Last year, Biotest had - as previously announced - slightly increased sales to 516.1 million euros. The operating loss was 16.6 million euros, less than half of what it was in 2021, but Biotest said its core business was profitable. The bottom line was a loss of 31.7 million euros, down from 63.4 million in 2021./als/DP/stw