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 Abbott is one of the major U.S. companies to be affected by troubled
operations in Venezuela.
The Latin American nation's economy contracted by 4.5 percent in the
first nine months of last year as plunging oil prices, and what
critics of President Nicolas Maduro see as policy missteps, took an
increasing toll.
Venezuela's official annual inflation rate was the world's highest
at 141.5 percent in the nine months.
Abbott, which rakes in two-thirds of its revenue from outside the
United States, said emerging market sales increased 1.1 percent but
would have risen 4.8 percent excluding the impact of Venezuelan
operations.
The company's results, however, beat Wall Street estimates, largely
helped by its booming medical device business, where sales rose 6.4
percent to $1.37 billion in the second quarter.
Abbott's device unit develops products for heart, diabetes and eye
patients and has been helped by launches including glucose monitor
FreeStyle Libre and MitraClip, which repairs heart valves less
invasively.
Abbott is in the process of acquiring St. Jude Medical Inc for $25
billion. St. Jude on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings and
revenue roughly in line with Wall Street estimates.
Miles White, chief executive of Abbott, said he had still expected
to close the transaction before year-end, as the company prepares to
respond to a second request of information from the U.S. Federal
Trade Commision.
Abbott's acquisition of diagnostic company Alere Inc however,
continues to see challenges, especially after Alere was subpoenaed
by the U.S. Department of Justice over its sales practices.
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Alere rejected a request by Abbott to terminate the deal for a
breakup fee in April.
"To be honest, no matter what kind of teeth grinding and gnashing we
go through with them .. one thing I'm certain of is that they are
trying to do everything they can, in their way to address the
challenges," Miles said on a conference call with analysts.
On an adjusted basis, Abbott earned 55 cents per share in the
quarter ended June 30, above the average analyst estimate of 53
cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's net sales rose 3.2 percent to $5.33 billion, beating
analysts' estimate of $5.24 billion. (http://prn.to/2atEUVO)
Abbott's shares were up 2.3 percent at $42.76 in mid-morning
trading.
(Reporting by Amrutha Penumudi in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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