WuXi PharmaTech ($WX), China's largest CRO, boosted its revenue by 14.8% in the second quarter, as banner growth in its contract manufacturing business helped the company expand its global reach.
Sales came in at $163.4 million on the quarter, beating out the prior year's $142.3 million. The CRO's lab services business jumped 13.2% to $119.9 million, driven by 14.2% growth in its Chinese services arm and a 9.6% jump in its U.S. operation. Manufacturing services, WuXi's fastest-growing segment, leapt 19.3% in the second quarter, bringing in $43.5 million.
WuXi credits its success to escalating demand for its discovery services and a broad-based expansion of its manufacturing platform. The CRO has now upped the lower end of its full-year expectations, forecasting between $665 million and $670 million in 2014, good for up to 16% annual growth.
The company is also dialing up how much it plans to spend on M&A and internal investments, earmarking up to $100 million for capital expenditures, an 18% increase over previous guidance and almost double what it spent in 2013.
"We remain committed to building the premier open-access R&D platform that enables anyone and any company to discover and develop innovative medicines to benefit the world's patients," CEO Ge Li said in a statement.
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