Roche records rise in profit in 2011
Swiss drug maker Roche says that its net profit rose seven per cent to SFr9.54 billion ($10.35 billion) last year.
In a statement on Wednesday, the pharmaceuticals firm said that it had seen a strong performance in 2011 despite the impact of currency effects and the challenging market. Its profit for 2010 was SFr8.89 billion.
The Basel-based company said net income attributable to shareholders grew seven per cent to SFr9.3 billion from SFr8.7 billion the previous year.
Sales fell ten per cent to SFr42.53 billion due partly to the strength of the Swiss franc against other major currencies.
Looking ahead, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said that the planned acquisition of San Diego-based DNA diagnostics company Illumina, announced at the end of January, “will strengthen our presence in the fast-growing sequencing market and enable the discovery of complex biomarkers for research and clinical use”.
He added that the company expected low to mid-single-digit sales growth in its main divisions this year provided currencies remain stable.
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