Roche: disappointing Q3, although forecasts confirmed
(CercleFinance.com) - Roche opened the quarterly results season for Europe's pharmaceutical giants on Thursday announcing sales that are slightly below market expectations.
In the first nine months of the year, the Basel-based group's sales rose by 1% (-6% in local currencies) to 44.1bn Swiss francs, weighed on by lower sales of Covid-19-related products and the erosion of biosimilars.
Q3 total sales rose by 7% to 14.27bn Swiss francs, slightly below market expectations of 14.33bn Swiss francs.
Due to the sharp drop in sales of Covid-related products, Roche still expects sales to fall this year, in the low single-digit range (at constant exchange rates).
Excluding the Covid effect, Roche expects strong sales growth in the core activities of both divisions, Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics.
EPS from core businesses is expected to decline similar to sales (at constant exchange rates), although this does not prevent the laboratory from expecting a further increase in its dividend in Swiss francs.
Following this announcement, the share price fell by over 3% on the Zurich Stock Exchange, while the SMI index lost 1.3%.
Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
In the first nine months of the year, the Basel-based group's sales rose by 1% (-6% in local currencies) to 44.1bn Swiss francs, weighed on by lower sales of Covid-19-related products and the erosion of biosimilars.
Q3 total sales rose by 7% to 14.27bn Swiss francs, slightly below market expectations of 14.33bn Swiss francs.
Due to the sharp drop in sales of Covid-related products, Roche still expects sales to fall this year, in the low single-digit range (at constant exchange rates).
Excluding the Covid effect, Roche expects strong sales growth in the core activities of both divisions, Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics.
EPS from core businesses is expected to decline similar to sales (at constant exchange rates), although this does not prevent the laboratory from expecting a further increase in its dividend in Swiss francs.
Following this announcement, the share price fell by over 3% on the Zurich Stock Exchange, while the SMI index lost 1.3%.
Copyright (c) 2023 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.