SNY Sanofi

--Sanofi swung to a fourth-quarter profit but sales edged down slightly

--The vaccine business was boosted by influenza-shot sales, despite a decline in other vaccinations due to the coronavirus pandemic

--The company confirmed its 2022 target on business operating income margin

By Cecilia Butini

Sanofi SA on Friday posted a swing to profit for the fourth quarter of 2020 but said sales declined on year.

The French pharmaceutical company said net profit came in at 1.08 billion euros ($1.29 billion) for the period compared with a loss of EUR10 million for the same period a year earlier, when it booked impairment charges on a number of assets.

Sales came in at EUR9.38 billion, down from EUR9.61 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019.

A consensus estimate provided by FactSet forecast net income at EUR741.9 million and sales at EUR9.54 billion for the quarter.

Business net income was EUR1.53 billion in the quarter, largely flat from the previous year, Sanofi said.

Sales of Sanofi's growth driver Dupixent rose 54% on year in the quarter despite the coronavirus pandemic, the company said. This strong performance drove pharmaceuticals sales in the quarter, which largely offset lower sales in the general medicines business, Sanofi said.

Looking ahead, the company said Dupixent is on a clear path to achieve more than EUR10 billion in peak sales for type 2 inflammatory diseases, and that it expects the drug to become accretive to business operating income margin by 2022.

Vaccine sales increased 15% in the fourth quarter thanks to strong influenza vaccine performance in Europe and in the U.S., as well as higher polio, pertussis, hib vaccines and meningitis shots. The growth was partly offset by lower sales of travel vaccines and booster shots for adults due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sanofi said.

For 2021, the company expects business earnings per share to grow by a high-single digit at constant exchange rates, barring unforeseen events.

In the medium term, Sanofi confirmed its target of expanding business operating income margin to 30% by 2022, and said the company is nearing its 2022 target as planned.

The company said that it is increasing its cost-savings target by EUR500 million to EUR2.5 billion by 2022, as will be discussed at its capital markets day later Friday.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2021 03:06 ET (08:06 GMT)

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