The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi revised its outlook for 2021 upwards on Thursday after a solid second quarter: if its net profit fell, the result of its separation from its partner Regeneron last year, its sales are dynamic.
Sanofi posted a net profit of 1.2 billion euros in the second quarter, against a profit of 7.6 billion euros a year earlier, when the group had reaped the gains from the sale of its Regeneron shares, its long-standing American partner.
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Net profit from operations, excluding exceptional items, showed an increase of 8.1% (published data) to 1.7 billion euros, with growing sales, still boosted by vaccines and its flagship product Dupixent . Thanks to these products in particular, turnover climbed 6.5% to 8.7 billion euros, a figure in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by Factset.
On the strength of these results, the laboratory, which is developing two vaccines against Covid-19, has revised its outlook for 2021 upwards. Business net income per share (EPS), a key indicator for Sanofi, is expected to rise by 12 % at constant exchange rates.
He was initially expected at the top of the first ten.
In the second quarter alone, this same indicator reached 1.38 euros, an increase of almost 8%.
Almost all the divisions saw their sales increase over this period.
The specialty medicine branch continues to push growth (+ 14%) to more than 3 billion euros, still supported by its blockbuster Dupixent (+ 45% to 1.2 billion euros), the flagship drug of the strategy of group, used among others in atopic dermatitis and asthma.
In a separate press release Thursday, Sanofi announced positive results for it from a phase 3 trial in a fifth indication, chronic urticaria. Vaccines have also increased by more than 10% to around 1 billion euros, boosted by the resumption of vaccines against meningitis and booster vaccinations in adults. In “
general medicine
” (diabetes, cardiovascular), sales were stable at 3.5 billion euros.
The turnover of the “
consumer health
” division
(which includes doliprane) climbed more than 6% to 1 billion euros, thanks to “
the growth of digestive health, which more than made up for the weak demand for cough and cold products,
”the statement said.
