Sanofi Upbeat on 2023 Earnings After 4Q Growth; Raises Dividend -- Update

By Cecilia Butini

Sanofi SA on Friday posted rising earnings and sales for the fourth quarter, said it expects its earnings per share to grow in 2023, and raised its dividend for the year.

The French pharma major reported net profit of 1.46 billion euros ($1.59 billion) for the quarter, up from EUR1.13 billion in the same quarter of 2021, on sales that grew to EUR10.73 billion from EUR9.99 billion in the previous year.

Business net income--a key metric that excludes some items--was EUR2.14 billion in the quarter, up from the year-earlier period's EUR1.73 billion, the company said. Business earnings per share grew 24% on year and reached EUR1.71 in the quarter, Sanofi said.

Analysts had expected business net income of EUR2.13 billion in the quarter, and business EPS of EUR1.70.

Consensus saw fourth-quarter sales at EUR10.96 billion.

Sanofi proposed raising its dividend for the year by 6.9% to EUR3.56, it said.

Sales in the pharmaceuticals division rose by 7.3% on year, driven by Sanofi's specialty care portfolio, which includes best-selling allergy drug Dupixent, though sales in general medicines fell by 3.7%, the company said.

Vaccine sales fell in the fourth quarter as the company pursued an accelerated phasing of influenza vaccines between the third and the fourth quarter, but sales grew overall in 2022 as travel and booster vaccines recovered, the company said.

For 2023, the company said it expects business EPS to grow in the low single digits at constant exchange rates, with a currency impact of between minus 3.5% and minus 4.5%.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2023 03:10 ET (08:10 GMT)

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