'Asia is constantly strengthening its digitisation and connectivity, making it an attractive market to invest in'

Eppendorf, a leading global company, catering instruments, consumables, solutions and services for life science institutes and businesses worldwide recently inaugurated its new subsidiary in Singapore’s Biopolis Science Centre.

- Hithaishi C Bhaskar

This centre focuses on biomedical research projects and enables close cooperation between public and private scientific institutions. BioSpectrum Asia caught up with Eva van Pelt, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Eppendorf SE to discuss the company’s expansion into the Asia/Pacific/Africa region. Edited excerpts;

How would you describe the accomplishments at Eppendorf for FY 21-22, particularly in the APAC market? What drives your investment in Asia?

Globally we operate through our four market regions, Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific/Africa (APA), and China. The consolidated global revenue at Eppendorf has been impressive, especially, by achieving the highest revenue of €1.1 billion for the year 2021 marking a remarkable milestone amidst the pandemic challenges, the chip crisis, global supply chain bottlenecks and more. An annual sales growth of around 14 per cent was observed in 2021 which aligns with nearing 20 per cent growth in 2020, making them key profitable developments. This was supported by an increased R&D budget of 15.6 per cent accounting for €64.5 million.

The APAC region continues to be one of the major contributors in the same period, with Asia/Pacific/ Africa (APA) and China being the vital pillars of our growth strategy. APA boosted its revenue by 23 per cent, and China performed similarly, gaining 20.4 per cent over the year 2021. Asia is an extremely important market for the Eppendorf Group, already accounting for around one-third of our total revenue.