The German chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA had its profits rise for the final quarter of last year by 34 per cent to 109.5 million euros. The growth was said to be down to increased demand for liquid crystals for computer displays.

For 2005 as a whole, sales rose 9.9 per cent and profits were almost unchanged at 659 million euros. Merck executive board chairman Dr Michael Roemer said: "The year 2005 was very successful for Merck thanks to innovative products and the hard work of our employees. "As we see this level of success continuing, we expect our top and bottom lines for 2006 - excluding exceptional items - will improve by a high single-digit rate. In fact, we see no reason why this development should not continue beyond this year."

The firm's pharmaceutical business had an increase in sales of 13 per cent to 3,894 million euros, buoyed by the success of the cancer treatment Erbitux, which had sales worth 218 million euros for the year.