Novo Nordisk Shares Drop After Guidance Cut

By Dominic Chopping

Shares in Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVO-B.KO) fell sharply Thursday after it said that sales and operating profit in local currencies could drop this year as lower sales prices and intensifying competition in the U.S. weigh on the insulin-maker's earnings.

"2016 was a challenging year," said Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen. "While we met our financial guidance for the year, strong market headwinds in the USA meant that we had to revise our long-term financial targets."

The company now sees 2017 sales in a range between a decline of 1% to growth of 4% while operating profit will be in a range between a decline of 2% and a rise of 3% in local currency terms. It previously saw low single-digit growth in sales and flat to low single-digit growth in operating profit.

The company reported a 5% rise in fourth-quarter net profit Thursday to 8.7 billion Danish kroner ($1.26 billion), missing analysts' expectations for DKK8.92 billion according to a FactSet poll. Sales were DKK29.57 billion.

The shares fell over 7.5% in early trade in Copenhagen.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]; Twitter: @domchopping @WSJNordics

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2017 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)

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