12th Feb 2015 12:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Shire PLC Thursday reiterated confidence in its target of USD10 billion in product sales by 2020, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014 boosted by the break-fee from its collapsed takeover by US drugmaker AbbVie Inc, and posted earnings per share ahead of guidance.
The FTSE 100 listed pharmaceutical company posted non GAAP diluted earnings per American depositary share of USD10.60 for 2014, up 39% from USD7.66 in 2013. At the time of its third quarter, Shire had said it expected to report non GAAP earnings per American depositary share growth in the high 30% range.
Analysts had expected non GAAP diluted earnings per ADS of USD10.55.
Shire proposed a total dividend of 22.92 cents, up from 19.93 cents in the previous year.
The company posted a pretax profit of USD3.34 billion, up from USD1.69 billion a year before, as revenue rose to USD5.83 billion from USD4.76 billion, bolstered by the USD1.64 billion break fee from the collapse of its potential takeover by AbbVie.
Shire expects to see product sales growth in the low-to-mid single digit range at actual exchange rates in 2015, lower than in 2014 as it expects significantly lower sales of Intuniv after it loss exclusivity last December, and expected headwinds from the US dollar. At constant exchange rates Shire expects product sales growth in the mid-to-high single digits.
Royalties and other revenues are expected to be up 30 to 40% in 2015, including royalty streams from NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. Shire expects to complete the acquisition of NPS in the first quarter of 2015.
It expects to see non GAAP diluted earnings per American depositary share growth in the mid-single digits in 2015.
Shares in Shire are trading up 1.7% at 4,859.00 pence Thursday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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