Sanofi 3Q Profit Grew; Raises 2020 Business EPS Guidance -- Update

--Sanofi net profit for the third quarter increased on year

--The company raised its business EPS guidance on strong sales of Dupixent and vaccines

--Sales in the General Medicines portfolio decreased, but this was largely offset by the growth in Specialty Care, driven by Dupixent

By Cecilia Butini

Sanofi SA said Thursday that net profit grew on year in the third quarter and raised its business EPS guidance for the year.

The French pharmaceutical major posted net profit of 1.95 billion euros ($2.29 billion) in the period, up from EUR1.77 billion the year prior.

Sales fell slightly to EUR9.48 billion compared with EUR9.50 billion the year prior, but were driven by strong performance of monoclonal antibody Dupixent and demand for flu vaccines, the company said.

Sales of Dupixent--which is part of Sanofi's Specialty Care portfolio and produced in collaboration with Regeneron--reached EUR918 million in the quarter, a 68.6% on-year increase at constant exchange rates.

The increase offset a 6.4% sales decline in the company's General Medicines portfolio due to the volume-based procurement program in China--which aims at lowering the price of certain drugs--as well as weaker performance in the diabetes segment.

Vaccine sales were up 13.6% at constant exchange rates reflecting the strong performance of influenza vaccines across all geographies, the company said. That was partly offset by lower sales of meningococcal vaccination Menactra, adult booster vaccines and travel vaccines due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Business net income--a metric which Sanofi uses to indicate income without certain one-off items--came in at EUR2.30 billion, up from EUR2.28 billion in the third quarter of 2019.

The company raised its business EPS guidance. It now expects 2020 business EPS to grow between 7% and 8% at constant exchange rates, having previously guided for EPS growth between 6% and 7% at constant exchange rates.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2020 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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