Novartis sees pharma sales climb
Europe's second biggest drugs group, Novartis, has unveiled a 10 per cent increase in pharmaceutical sales over the first quarter of 2001. Sales in the key division rose SFr4.5 billion ($2.59 billion), underpinned by the performance of Novartis's range of new products.
The Basel-based group said overall sales for the company rose by 11 per cent in local currencies, or by nine per cent in Swiss francs, to SFr7.3 billion in the first quarter.
Novartis, which is also Switzerland’s largest company in terms of market capitalisation, expects that its efforts to launch a further five products this year will also boost growth once they come on to the market.
The company expects a higher operating profit in 2001 but predicts that its net operating profit margin will fall by one to two per cent this year. It says the decline is likely because of the extra costs involved in introducing a range of new drugs.
Novartis’s latest results will boost the group’s standing among investors, particularly as its closest rival Roche has a weak product pipeline.
“Novartis is our favourite among Swiss pharmaceutical companies,” Zurich Cantonal Bank analyst, Manfried Gyr, recently told swissinfo. “It has a strong near-term product pipeline and has focused its marketing efforts on the growth drivers, which are the most important products.”
Novartis said on Thursday that it expects an improvement in its pharmaceutical profit margin, “but not before 2003”.
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