Annual Report

Sartorius Group

First-Half Financial Report from January to June 2011

Interim Management Report

Economic Report

Macroeconomic Environment

In the first half of 2011, the world economy was on the

rebound. Overall, economic recovery has picked up

steam, and global real gross domestic product (GDP) is

bound to increase at a similarly dynamic pace this year.

Experts forecast that real GDP will rise nearly 3.5% (Joint

Economic Forecast Group) or 4.5% (International

Monetary Fund, IMF) for the full year.

Development in the individual regions was very uneven.

After a few clouds had appeared on the horizon during

the storm of the global economic and financial crisis,

primarily the emerging market economies regained their

high momentum. By contrast, the rate of expansion in

the U.S. economy was only moderate compared with

previous upswings.

Since April, the European Central Bank has raised its key

interest rate from 1.0% to 1.5% and thus ushered in a

turning point in interest rates, according to the opinion

of most capital market experts. In the USA, the prime

rate has hovered since the end of 2008 at historic lows

between 0% and 0.25%. Unlike monetary policy,

financial policy was no longer explicitly expansionary.

Many of the policy measures taken to combat the

financial and economic crisis have already run their

course or are due to expire soon.

(Sources: IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2011; Joint Economic

Forecast Group; Joint Economic Forecast, Spring 2011, prepared for

the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology)

In the euro zone, the pattern of development has

likewise been uneven: While Germany and a few of its

neighboring countries continued on the upswing, the

national economies in the Mediterranean region

stagnated. In Japan, the first half was impacted by the

earthquake and the subsequent nuclear plant

catastrophe. However, these disasters have not had any

serious effects on the global economy so far.

According to experts' estimates, the...