German medical and pharmaceutical packaging firm Gerresheimer (Düsseldorf; www.gerresheimer.com) has inaugurated a new US facility in Berlin, Ohio, its eighth plant in the country and the site of a cleanroom that will produce its square-shaped Duma Twist-Off Q plastic bottle for the North American market.

The cleanroom with ISO 8 standards and injection blow moulding equipment is to manufacture the 40-ml bottle, which is made of high-density-polyethylene and has a child-resistant polypropylene-based closure.

Gerresheimer announced separately that it has raised its 2022 guidance after a strong start to the year, with first-quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA recording double-digit growth. It now expects organic revenue growth of at least 10%. The previous outlook was for a high-single-digit improvement. It still sees a “high single-digit” organic increase for adjusted EBITDA. Organic growth is computed to exclude the foreign exchange effects.

Quarterly revenue surged 22.4% year-on-year to EUR 371 mn – a 19.1% gain in organic terms – thanks to the dynamic pricing environment. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 60.6 mn for organic growth of 10.6%.

Plastics & Devices division revenues reached EUR 186 mn, up 16.9% organically. Demand for plastic packaging and syringes was particularly high, the company said, noting that the contract manufacturing business also developed positively. Higher resin prices were successfully passed on to customers in the plastic packaging business, the company added. Adjusted EBITDA increased organically by 15.3%.

Sales at the Primary Packaging Glass Division improved 21.8% organically, and adjusted EBITDA grew 11.1%. The Advanced Technologies Division performed as expected with a slight increase in revenues and adjusted EBITDA over the year-earlier period.

Gerresheimer said it has established small series production at its US-based Technical Competence Centre in Peachtree City, Georgia. Limited quantities of products can now be manufactured under series and ISO class 8 cleanroom conditions. Production equipment includes a 120 t injection press that connects with handling systems and parts conveyors.