admin @ Tue, 2005-10-25 06:46
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Merck KGaA, Germany's No. 4 drugmaker, said third-quarter profit jumped a better-than- expected 57 percent, helped by a 60 million-euro ($72 million) drug licensing payment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.
Net income rose to 181.5 million euros, or 95 cents a share, from 115.6 million euros, or 61 cents a share a year earlier, the Darmstadt, Germany-based company said today in a statement. That beat the 175 million euros expected by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Merck is building a portfolio of cancer therapies to add to the colon cancer drug Erbitux, which generated 59 million euros in third-quarter sales. In September, it formed a research and marketing partnership with Japan's Takeda to speed development of matuzumab, an antibody-based cancer treatment. Merck is using profits from its liquid crystals unit and sales from generic drugs to maintain growth while it invests in new medicines.
Sales rose 8.8 percent to 1.47 billion euros, compared with the 1.46 billion euros analysts were expecting.
As a result of its third-quarter performance, Merck adjusted its full-year sales forecast, saying it now expects ``high single-digit'' growth compared with its previous forecast for a single-digit percentage rise in revenue.
Merck, which is unrelated to Merck & Co. of the U.S., also said it expects operating profit to improve by a ``double-digit'' percentage rate this year.
While the operating profit margin from liquid crystals, Merck's most profitable division, fell to 46.4 percent from 48.4 percent last year, it was higher than the 42.7 percent of the second quarter. Merck's return on sales ``is moving in the right direction,'' it said.
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