Moody's: Gerresheimer positive

Moody's Investors Service said it has changed to positive from stable the outlook on all ratings of Gerresheimer AG.

Concurrently, the company's Ba1 corporate family rating, Ba1-PD probability of default rating and the Ba1 rating on the €300 million of senior unsecured notes have been affirmed, the agency said.

"Today's outlook change to positive reflects the achieved track record of resiliency of Gerresheimer's business model over the past years despite challenging economic conditions and its expectation of gradual improvements in performance, that should allow the group to achieve and sustain credit metrics in line with an investment grade rating over the next 12-18 months," said Anke Rindermann, a Moody's vice president, senior analyst and lead analyst for Gerresheimer.

Although current credit metrics such as Moody's adjusted debt/EBITDA of 3.2 times as of May 2013 fall short of its expectation for a higher rating following somewhat weaker than expected H1 2013 results, the positive outlook considers potential for improvements on the back of margin enhancement in the group's plastic systems division due to new products coming on stream that should help drive up divisional profitability, the agency said.

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