BASEL (Reuters) – A strong Swiss franc dented full-year profits at Roche on Thursday as the Basel-based drugmaker said it would raise its dividend – though by less than expected.
Roche posted an 18 percent jump in net profit to 11.373 billion Swiss francs ($12.70 billion), missing the average analyst forecast for 11.626 billion in a Reuters poll.
Full-year sales rose 3 percent to 46.78 billion Swiss francs, in line with forecasts, and driven by strong demand for both its older and newer cancer medicines as well as its rheumatoid arthritis medicine Actemra.
It said it would hike its dividend 6 percent to 7.80 Swiss francs, and expected to further increase the payout in future. Analysts in the Reuters poll were looking for a dividend of 7.98.
The world’s largest maker of cancer drugs chalked up several successes in 2013 with “follow on” medicines it hopes will replace or breathe new life into its older treatments.
Roche is banking on a strong ramp-up of these products to fend off anticipated competition from cheaper, copycat versions of its top-selling biotech drugs, known as “biosimilars” because they are not exact replicas.
This strategy was affirmed on Thursday as sales of Perjeta, a treatment for women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, rose nearly five-fold to 326 million francs.
Roche hopes to use this drug in combination with Kadcyla, which treats the disease with fewer side effects such as hair loss and which had sales of 234 million francs.
The company guided for 2014 sales to grow in the low-to-mid single digits percent, while core earnings per share (EPS) should grow ahead of sales.
($1 = 0.8959 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by John Stonestreet)
Strong franc weighs on profits at drugmaker Roche
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