Drugmaker Wyeth posts 13 percent jump in 2Q profit

[July 23, 2009]  TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Drugmaker Wyeth on Wednesday posted a 13 percent jump in second-quarter profit, trouncing Wall Street forecasts, as cost cuts overcame lower sales due to generic competition and the strong dollar.

The maker of children's vaccine Prevnar and antidepressant Effexor also hiked its 2009 profit forecast.

Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth, the world's No. 12 pharmaceutical company by sales, is being bought by No. 1 drugmaker Pfizer Inc. later this year.

Wyeth said its net income amounted to $1.27 billion, or 94 cents per share. That's up from $1.12 billion, or 83 cents a share, a year earlier.

The maker of children's vaccine Prevnar and antidepressant Effexor said that without $44.9 million in restructuring costs and $21.2 million in costs for the acquisition by Pfizer, net income would have been 98 cents per share. That was 13 cents more than Wall Street expected.

Revenue was down 4 percent, to $5.7 billion from $5.95 billion, as the strong dollar reduced worldwide revenue about 6 percentage points.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings per share of 85 cents and revenue of $5.58 billion.

Meanwhile, Wyeth raised its 2009 profit forecast to a range of $3.48 to $3.58 per share, from a range of $3.33 to $3.53.

On Monday, Wyeth shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the Pfizer deal, which still requires approval by antitrust regulators in the U.S. and a few other countries. The two companies are working on selling parts of their animal health businesses to gain approval.

"We remain focused on delivering strong performance as we work with Pfizer toward the successful integration of our two companies," Wyeth Chief Executive Bernard Poussot said in a statement.

"Wyeth's results reflect the ongoing strength of our biotechnology and vaccine franchises," as well as infant formula and other nutrition items sold in many foreign countries, he said.

Excluding currency effects, sales jumped 24 percent to $783 million for Prevnar, the world's top-selling vaccine, which protects against pneumonia, meningitis and other pneumococcal diseases.

Revenue also was up sharply for Enbrel, an injected biologic drug for rheumatoid arthritis, at $1.4 billion. Sales rose 9 percent both for Wyeth's hemophilia medicines, which brought in $248 million, and for the nutritional products, which made $436 million.

However, sales were down 22 percent, excluding currency effects, to $772 million for blockbuster antidepressant Effexor.

For first six months, net income increased 6.5 percent to $2.47 billion, or $1.83 per share, from $2.32 billion, or $1.72 per share, in the first half of 2008.

[Associated Press; By LINDA A. JOHNSON]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.